January 18, 2000
Web posted at: 9:04 a.m. EST (1404 GMT)

MIAMI (CNN) -- Rescuers looked for possible survivors off the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic Tuesday after a boat carrying dozens of Dominican migrants capsized while trying to illegally reach Puerto Rico.

As many as 70 people may have been aboard the overloaded yola, a small wooden boat, the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami reported. It said 16 bodies had been accounted for -- 13 recovered at Uverto Alto Beach in the Dominican Republic and three more spotted at sea.

U.S. Coast Guard aircraft and Dominican navy ships were conducting a joint search in the Mona Passage, a strait between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Caribbean Sea.

The Coast Guard said it was notified of the accident around noon on Monday by local news media.

In a prepared statement, the Dominican navy said it had arrested the trip's organizer, a man it identified only as William.

Dominican navy Lt. Holguin Terrero said the migrants' 40-foot wooden boat had left the town of Sabana de la Mar before it lost one of two small motors and sank in rough weather off Bavaro, 90 miles east of Santo Domingo.

Dozens of Dominicans die each year while trying to reach Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory 75 miles to the east. From Puerto Rico, many Dominican migrants hope to make their way to the U.S. mainland.