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59 JOBS FOUND

• Qualifications: STCW, ENG1, Yachtmaster Offshore
• Experience: 3 Seasons +
• Salary: DOE
• Qualifications: STCW, ENG1, PBL2
• Experience: 1 Season +
• Salary: 2500EUR (DOE)
• Qualifications: STCW, PDSD, ENG1, Food and Hygiene Level 2
• Permanent - Rotational
• Qualifications: STCW, ENG1, FHL2
• Experience: -
• Salary: €7000 + (doe)
• Qualifications: Master 3000
• Experience: 10 years +
• Salary: Attractive salary (doe)
• Qualifications: STCW, ENG1, Food & Hygiene Level 2, Culinary Trained
• Salary: 3500EUR (DOE)
• Qualifications: STCW, ENG1, PDSD, PBL2
• Experience: 1 Year +
• Salary: 3000EUR
• Qualifications: Yachmaster Offshore or Deck Rating
• Qualifications: Y2
• Experience: 3 Years +
• Salary: 6000 to 6500EUR (DOE)
• Rotation 3:1
• Qualifications: STCW, ENG1, Food & Hygiene Level 2, Crowd Management Training, Crisis Management Training, PDSD, Hairdressing Qualifications
• Experience: 1 Year
• Salary: 3000EUR (DOE)

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Vodou ritual with candles on migrant boat sets off explosion, kills 40 Haitians at sea

A mural in the northern port city of Cap-Haïtien warns Haitians about the perils of illegal migration. (Jacqueline Charles/Miami Herald/TNS)

(Tribune News Service) — A Vodou ceremony aboard a boat filled with desperate Haitian migrants seeking a safe landing ended in tragedy after candles and matches used in the ritual set gasoline-filled drums on fire, setting off an explosion that killed at least 40 people.

The tragedy unfolded around 3 a.m. Wednesday off the coast of Labadie in northern Haiti. The boat had initially departed from Fort Saint Michel, a seaside community in the city of Cap-Haïtien, near the international airport.

After leaving Cap-Haïtien the boat made a stop at Picolet, off Labadie, several Haitians told the Miami Herald. The area is considered sacred and before the risky migrant journey, boat captains from Cap-Haïtien routinely stop there to seek help from Vodou spirits for a safe and undetected journey. The secret ritual usually involves rum.

“When they arrived they started pouring rum and wine into the ocean and they lit candles. There were two drums filled with gasoline and they exploded,” said Jean-Henry Petit, who is responsible for the Office of Civil Protection for northern Haiti.

Petit said some of the survivors blamed the tragedy on the use of wine in the ceremony, which is considered a bad omen because it symbolizes blood . He said there were as many as 80 Haitians onboard, according to survivors.

The use of Vodou in clandestine boat voyages is common and often credited for Haitians’ safe and undetected arrival at their destination. The details of the intricate rituals are a closely held secret. But generally, Vodou faithfuls say the ceremonies can include drumming , chanting and paying homage to the Vodou spirit Agwé, who they believe rules the sea. Sometimes Haitian rum is poured, a citrus-scented cologne named Florida Water is sprayed, and a chicken is sacrificed.

The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, said 40 Haitians are presumed to have died at sea and 41 others were rescued. The boat was headed to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory about 155 miles from Haiti. A popular tourist destination, the island-chain is also popular among Haitians seeking to escape their country’s deadly gang violence and opting not to risk the longer, riskier voyage to the Florida coast.

“Haiti’s socioeconomic situation is in agony. The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more,” Grégoire Goodstein, Haiti chief of mission for the agency.

Goodstein said the tragedy “highlights the risks faced by children, women and men migrating through irregular routes” and underscores the crucial need for safe and legal pathways for migration.

Survivors said that while there were originally 60 people aboard the boat, it took on additional individuals as it was being loaded. The passengers were initially rescued by another boat that had departed from Port-de-Paix in the northwest before Haitian Coast Guard was notified and completed the rescue, Haitian authorities said. At least 11 people were initially hospitalized, but as of Friday, only one person had not yet been discharged.

Haitians face a lack of economic opportunities, a collapsing health system and school closures. The lack of prospects, along with the ongoing gang violence and kidnappings that are spreading beyond Port-au-Prince are pushing many to consider fleeing the country. A 2023 research by the organization for migration found that 84% of migrants who had been returned to Haiti had left to seek job opportunities abroad.

With visa services suspended by the U.S. embassy, legal migration has become “an extremely challenging journey to consider, let alone pursue,” the United Nations agency noted, leaving many Haitians to view risky, irregular migration as their only option.

After several powerful armed gangs in Port-au-Prince united and began launching coordinated attacks in late February, the Haitian Coast Guard in the north has noted an increase in the number of boat departures. Coast guards from countries in the region, including the United States, The Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Jamaica, have also reported a growing number of boats intercepted at sea carrying Haitians.

Late Thursday, the United State Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defense Force announced the suspension of a search for 60 Haitian migrants who presumably left The Bahamas bound for Florida.

Last year, the Turks and Caicos reported interdicting 4,016 migrants at sea. So far this year 865 undocumented migrants have been interdicted at as of June 25, said Denyse Renne, a spokeswoman with the Royal Turks and Caicos police. Though the island-chain is seeing an overall reduction in undocumented migrants interdicted at sea, U.N data shows that the number of Haitians being returned from the British territory is on the rise.

According to the U.N. migration agency, more than 86,000 people have been forcibly returned to Haiti by neighboring countries this year, 13,000 just in March alone. The majority of the returns are from the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

The U.N. migration group “is concerned about the high number of forced returns of Haitians during this current period of civil unrest and uncertainty,” the agency said. “Forced returns must occur in a dignified manner. Many migrants forcibly returned, including unaccompanied and separated children as well as pregnant and nursing women, arrive in Haiti in highly vulnerable conditions, often with few resources. They urgently need humanitarian assistance after facing numerous health and protection concerns during their journeys.”

©2024 Miami Herald.

Visit at miamiherald.com .

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC .

related stories

• At least 40 Haitian migrants killed in boat fire
• Haiti prime minister asks police, army and Kenya forces to target gang areas
• Haiti’s prime minister orders gangs to drop weapons and promises to take back control of the capital
• More Kenyan police arrive in Haiti with UN-backed mission to fight violent gangs

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Watch CBS News

At least 40 dead after boat catches fire as migrants try to escape Haiti, officials say

Updated on: July 19, 2024 / 2:00 PM EDT / CBS/AFP

At least 40 migrants have died and several others were injured after a boat they were traveling in caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti , a United Nations agency said Friday. A government official said the migrants were trying to escape to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the Haitian Coast Guard rescued 41 survivors, 11 of whom were hospitalized, including some for burns.

But "at least 40 migrants have died, and several others were injured," the IOM said.

The dead included the captain of the boat, according to Arnold Jean, a spokesperson for the police in Cap-Haïtien.

The boat, carrying more than 80 people, had left the port of Labadee on Wednesday en route to the Turks and Caicos Islands , a 150-mile journey, the IOM reported, citing Haiti's National Office for Migration.

The fire likely started when two drums of gasoline ignited, Civil Protection official Jean Henry-Petit said. Passengers were drinking rum and whiskey, according to a witness, which may have come into contact with the flammable substance, causing the fire.

"Desperate measures"

Migration from the poverty-stricken Caribbean country has been surging for months, as thousands of people flee a spike in violence from criminal gangs that now control wide swaths of territory.

"Haiti's socioeconomic situation is in agony," said Gregoire Goodstein, IOM's chief of mission in the country. "The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more."

Hundreds of police officers from Kenya have deployed in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, part of an international effort to bring stability to a country riven by political, social and economic chaos.

Criminal gangs now control 80 percent of the capital city, with residents saying they have faced murder, rape, theft and kidnapping for ransom.

Since February 29, Haitian Coast Guard units in the north have observed an increasing number of departures by boat, the IOM said.

Countries including the United States, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Jamaica say they have intercepted a growing number of boats originating from Haiti. Last month, 118 Haitian migrants were picked up by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Key West after coming ashore.

Key West, FL;  At approximately 4:00 a.m., U.S. Border Patrol agents with support from federal, state & local law enforcement partners responded to a migrant landing & encountered 118 Haitian migrants. Local EMS is on scene evaluating the individuals. #haiti #florida #keywest pic.twitter.com/5y9FAGamMr — Samuel Briggs II (@USBPChiefMIP) June 26, 2024

More than 86,000 migrants have been forcibly returned to Haiti by neighboring countries this year, according to the IOM.

Last month, the IOM said data showed over 578,000 people were internally displaced across Haiti, a 60% increase since March.

"The unending crisis in Haiti is pushing more and more people to flee their homes and leave everything behind," Philippe Branchat, head of the IOM in Haiti, said in a statement . "This is not something they do lightly. What's more, for many of them, this is not the first time."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bill Shepler, captain and co-founder of Mackinac Island ferry fleet, passes away

The captain and co-founder of Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry, known for his personable nature and perfectionism when it came to customer service, has died, the company announced Thursday.

"Bill's dedication and passion for connecting people to the beauty of Mackinac Island created unforgettable memories for countless guests," the company said in a statement on Facebook. "His legacy of service, leadership and community spirit will forever be a part of our lives."

Shepler was 92. A cause of death was not listed.

Bret Marr, a Lansing lobbyist whose firm represented the ferry company, remembered Shepler as a "great ambassador" for the Pure Michigan tourism campaign who loved talking to out-of-state visitors and encouraged Michiganians to visit the Straits of Mackinac during the last few weeks of the summer season.

"He knew everybody's name," Marr said. "You met him once, you knew him for life."

Marr added that despite the ubiquity of the Shepler's blue-and-white ferries, Shepler didn't take it for granted.

"I think that's why, even in his 80s, you would still see him up there schlepping luggage; helping people unload their cars," Marr said. "He was just another team member."

According to the company's website, Shepler's father Capt. William Shepler started the company as a snack bar for passengers waiting for the ferry to Mackinac Island after he went home to Mackinaw in the spring of 1945. The first two boats used by the company, one of which Bill Shepler piloted, were named "Miss Penny" after the captain's daughter and "The Fiji" after Bill Shepler's fraternity.

The company added a boat called the "William Richard" to its fleet in 2020.

Dan Musser, the former owner of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the current chair of Arnold Freight Company, said he knew Shepler all his life. He remembered Shepler as committed to making sure guests coming to the island had a good experience on their way.

The few times he had the chance to be at the fleet's Mackinaw City dock, Musser said, Shepler was there, greeting people and even cleaning the ferry boats.

For most visitors to Mackinac Island, Shepler's ferry boats were their first impression of an island without cars.

"And he did it with great efficiency and flair," Musser told The Detroit News.

Cleanliness was one particular point of pride for Shepler, Musser said.

"I know how hard it is to keep a boat clean," Musser said. "Mr. Shepler really perfected that."

Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry sold in 2022 to Naples, Florida-based Hoffmann Family of Companies, but the Shepler family remained partial owners and stayed involved in the day-to-day operations.

A division of Hoffmann also recently acquired Mackinac Island Ferry Co., another ferry boat operator that runs ferries across the Straits of Mackinac from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, according to an announcement in June.

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