WASHINGTON: 11 people perished and 31 others were rescued when a vessel capsized off the coast of Puerto Rico on Thursday, according to the US Coast Guard.

Responding teams had rescued 31 people as of Thursday evening, 11 females and 20 males, according to the Coast Guard, who added that “11 fatalities had been retrieved.”

The yacht, which sank about 12 miles (19 kilometres) north of Puerto Rico’s Desecheo Island, was suspected of being involved in an “illegal migrant voyage,” according to the agency, which added that the majority of the passengers were from Haiti.

At around noon on Thursday, Coast Guard watchstanders got a report of “a capsized vessel with people in the water who did not appear to be wearing life jackets.”

The Coast Guard and its partner organisations are still responding because it is unknown how many passengers were on the boat.

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island that is also an unorganised US territory.

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