The US Coast Guard suspended its search for more than 40 missing Haitian migrants after local authorities said it was no longer needed as hopes faded of finding more survivors.
Several boats and helicopters belonging to the Turks and Caicos, near where the boat sank on Friday, continued to search the turquoise Caribbean waters on Saturday. But police Inspector Sharon Whitaker said the island was thinking about suspending its search early yesterday if no more survivors or bodies are found.
Roughly 160 Haitian migrants were packed aboard a 7.6m boat when it ran into stormy weather before dawn on Friday off the coast of this British territory. Thirty six people -- 23 women and 13 men -- were confirmed dead in addition to the more than 40 missing.
Searchers found no survivors or bodies on Saturday, dimming hopes for the rescue effort.
US Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Barry Bena said on Saturday that Turks and Caicos authorities asked the US Coast Guard to suspend its search, "apparently because they believed the likelihood of finding more survivors was very slim."
But Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick said his government would "use all the resources at our disposal to ensure that all bodies are recovered."
A survivor said the migrant ship sank after passengers panicked and shifted to one side, overturning the vessel and spilling most of the passengers into the shark-infested waters. At least three of the bodies fished from the water on Friday had been attacked by sharks, and some had limbs chewed off, Duncan said.
But Turks and Caicos police initially notified the US Coast Guard early on Friday that the Haitian sloop capsized while a police boat was towing the intercepted vessel to shore, according to Bena.
It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing accounts of the sinking.
Three British investigators will conduct interviews with "all concerned including the 78 survivors," according to Misick's statement. He did not say if this was simply government protocol in the islands, which are largely self-governing but defer to Britain in issues of defense, security and foreign affairs.
Duncan said the confirmed death toll rose to 36 when authorities found four bodies in the hold of the capsized sloop after it was towed back to port on the territory's main island of Providenciales, about 190km north of Haiti.
Every year, hundreds of Haitians set off in rickety boats, fleeing economic and civil disorder in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation in hopes of finding a better life by sneaking into the US or Caribbean islands such as the Turks and Caicos.
The capsized boat departed Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti on Wednesday and was headed toward the Turks and Caicos, although it was unclear whether that was the migrants' final destination or merely a stop.
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