On behalf of the Government and people of Barbados, I would like to express sincere and heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Haiti in relation to the tragedy of Saturday 2nd February 2019 in which twenty-eight (28) of our Haitian brothers and sisters lost their lives when the boat on which they were travelling sank off the coast of the Bahamas.
Our hearts go out to all of the grieving Haitian families, and I would wish to assure the people of Haiti that their Barbadian brothers and sisters are conscious of and troubled by this tragedy that has befallen one of our sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations. Indeed, we would wish our Haitian compatriots to know that, as members of the Caribbean family of nations, Haiti’s loss is our loss and that Haiti’s grief is our grief as well.
I would also like to assure the Government and people of Haiti that this tragedy has served to bring even more forcibly to our attention in Barbados the need for all of us in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to redouble our efforts to reach out to and to engage with Haiti at all levels, as we seek to complete the historic mission of fully integrating Haiti within our Caribbean Community.
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Note: On Feb 6th the number of dead bodies recovered in this tragic incident was increased to 30.