At least 40 people were killed at sea due to a boat carrying Haitian migrants en route to Turks and Caicos catching ablaze, reported the country's International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Friday.

Over 80 people were on the boat that departed from Fort Saint-Michel in the north of Haiti to escape the country's gang-filled violence, with 41 people surviving the fire after being rescued by the local coast guard, according to a statement from the IOM.

IOM's chief of mission, George Goodstein, said that the excessive presence of gang violence in Haiti has pressured citizens "to resort to desperate measures" to flee the Caribbean nation.

Eleven people were taken to the nearest hospital while the remaining survivors are receiving care and support from the IOM, the statement said.

Jean-Henri Petit, head of North Haiti's civil protection office said that the fire was ignited by the passengers lighting candles in a ritual to ensure a safe voyage, the Miami Herald reported.

“This devastating event highlights the risks faced by children, women, and men migrating through irregular routes,” Goldstein said.

The country's gang violence sparked a humanitarian crisis, forcing around 600,000 people from their homes and pushing five million people into acute food insecurity. As a result, the country received several hundred Kenyan police in July as part of a mission to aid local police in combating the armed gangs that have seized most of Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince.

The danger of Haiti's gang violence

William O’Neill, the UN rights expert for Haiti, said on March 28 that Haiti needs between 4,000 and 5,000 international police to help take down “catastrophic” gang violence.

Security conditions in Haiti are deteriorating further as gangs make advances within the capital, Port-au-Prince, amid a deadlock in negotiations to establish a transitional government.

O’Neill’s report stated that back in 2023, the number of people killed and injured due to gang violence increased significantly, with 4,451 killed and 1,668 injured while this year, the numbers are climbing already, with 1,554 killed and 826 injured as of March 22.

It added that so-called “self-defense brigades” are taking matters into their own hands, and “at least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023 and a further 59 in 2024” as of March 28.