A boat with Chinese migrants overturned off the coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca in the south of the country, writes the BBC. Eight of them perished. Mexican authorities announced over the weekend that they were investigating the cause of the accident and were working with the Chinese embassy in Mexico to identify the victims.
Police found the bodies on Friday along a route used by smugglers of illegal migrants trying to reach the United States. According to one survivor, the boat, which was piloted by a Mexican national, set off on Thursday from the state of Chiapas on the border with Guatemala, Reuters reports.
Many migrants depart along the route that the ship in question was sailing. Their numbers began to rise in 2018, mainly due to Central Americans fleeing a range of complex crises, including gang violence, poverty, political repression and natural disasters.
In recent years, however, the number of migrants who come from outside Central and Latin America has also been increasing.
Most of them are Chinese, who want to escape the weakening economy and political repression at home. Last year, more than 37,000 Chinese nationals were apprehended at the US-Mexico border, approximately fifty times more than two years earlier.
