At least 15 people drowned, two survived and nine went missing when a boat carrying Central American migrants capsized off Mexico's Pacific coast, the Mexican Navy said on Saturday.
"We have a total of two survivors rescued and 15 bodies recovered," the Navy said in a statement.
Earlier reports said 24 people had drowned when their boat capsized amid heavy seas churned by tropical storm Kiko, off the coast of southern Mexico.
Rescue operations by Navy ships and helicopters "continue in an effort to locate the nine people who so far have been reported missing," the Navy said.
Since the rescued were Salvadorans and the ship was on a route used by immigrant traffickers to the US, officials believe most of the dead -- eight women and three men -- and the missing were illegal immigrants from Central America, Oaxaca state authorities said in a separate statement.
None of the bodies have yet been identified, officials said.
A TV report said a Guatemalan woman survived from the vessel.
She said it set off from Guatemala on Tuesday with about 25 people on board from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and was wrecked in a storm but she survived by clinging to a barrel.
Residents from a coastal village found the bodies on the beach and picked up others in the ocean with their fishing boats.
The wreck occurred early in the morning near the Tehuantepec Isthmus on Mexico's Pacific coast.
Some 20 migrants from Guatemala and El Salvador died in the same region in a similar accident a few years ago.
Tropical storm Kiko on Saturday was churning in a northwestern direction, packing 200kph winds, the US-based National Hurricane Center said.
The storm is expected to turn toward the Pacific Ocean in the next few days.
BEIJING FORUM: ‘So-called freedom of navigation advocated by certain countries outside the region challenges the norms of international relations,’ the minister said Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) yesterday denounced “hegemonic logic and acts of bullying” during remarks at a Beijing forum that were full of thinly veiled references to the US. Organizers said that about 1,800 representatives from 100 countries, including political, military and academic leaders, were in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum. The three-day event comes as China presents itself as a mediator of fraught global issues including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Addressing attendees at the opening ceremony, Dong warned of “new threats and challenges” now facing world peace. “While the themes of the times — peace and development —
BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS: A prosecutor said they considered the risk of Hak-ja Han tampering with evidence to be very high, which led them to seek the warrant South Korean prosecutors yesterday requested an arrest warrant for the leader of the Unification Church, Hak-ja Han, on allegations of bribery linked to the country’s former first lady and incitement to destroy evidence. The move came a day after the 82-year-old was questioned over her alleged role in bribing former first lady Kim Keon-hee and a lawmaker. Founded in 1954 by her late husband, Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church has long been the subject of controversy and criticism, with its teachings centered on Moon’s role as the “second coming” and its mass weddings. Followers are derisively referred to as “Moonies.” However, the church’s
Decked out with fake crystal chandeliers and velvet sofas, cosmetic surgery clinics in Afghanistan’s capital are a world away from the austerity of Taliban rule, where Botox, lip filler and hair transplants reign. Despite the Taliban authorities’ strict theocratic rule, and prevailing conservatism and poverty in Afghanistan, the 20 or so clinics in Kabul have flourished since the end of decades of war in the country. Foreign doctors, especially from Turkey, travel to Kabul to train Afghans, who equally undertake internships in Istanbul, while equipment is imported from Asia or Europe. In the waiting rooms, the clientele is often well-off and includes men
Venezuela on Saturday organized a day of military training for civilians in response to the US deployment in the Caribbean, and amid new threats from US President Donald Trump. About a month ago, Washington deployed warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast, backed by F-35 jets sent to Puerto Rico in what it calls an anti-drug and anti-terrorism operation. Venezuelan Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino Lopez has accused Washington of waging “undeclared war” in the Caribbean, after US strikes killed over a dozen alleged drug traffickers off his country’s coast. Caracas also accused the US of seeking regime change, and