May 13, 2009 11:07 pm US/Eastern
Haitians Appalled After Fatal Smuggling Attempt
NORTH MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―
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Rescuers transported this woman, believe to be pregnant, to a local children's hospital.
CBS
Haitian-Americans in the South Florida community are watching Wednesday's events very closely and with heavy hearts, after at least nine victims died in what appears to be a smuggling attempt that went wrong.
Folks have been calling into WSRF 1580AM radio looking for answers and trying to find a way to end tragedies like this. Callers flooded the phone lines to participate in Philip Brutus's Creole language radio show.
When Brutus, a former state representative, heard the news that a ship filled with Haitian migrants sank, stranding more than two dozen men, women, and children in the ocean, he had one thought. "I was like geez! Again, oh my God, again?" Brutus told
CBS4 Reporter Natalia Zea.
He is furious with the smugglers who risk these people's lives everyday to make a quick buck.
"Coming out of Haiti, a poverty-stricken country, usually sell everything they have, give it to a smuggler, get on a boat, to meet such a tragic fate... it's difficult, it's tough, it's hard," said Brutus.
Hearing that at least 9 people died tore his heart.
"God please receive their souls, their body which is a cover of their souls had been through so many trials and tribulations," said Brutus.
He's not the only Haitian-American leader reaching out. Reverend Lucdel Harrigan plans to meet with the migrants as soon as he can.
"I will do my best to put them in touch with families, most of their family won't even know if they come to the United States," said Reverend Harrigan.
While the authorities investigate what happened, and who smuggled these people in, Brutus is praying Haiti will become something more than the violent, impoverished nation from which its own residents are escaping.
He feels, "Angst at a government that can't get its act together, that cannot do right by its citizens."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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