At least 30 Haitian migrants have died within sight of one of the playgrounds of the world’s wealthy, the Bahamas.
Another 110 people were rescued from the overloaded wooden sloop which capsized near Staniel Cay.
US coastguard and Royal Bahamas Defence Force units dropped inflatable dinghys to take the pressure off the huddle of bodies clinging to the upturned hull, and get people out of the water until they could be rescued.
Rough weather with nearly 50 kph winds and a metre and a half of swell hampered the operation, but there is no indication of why the sloop got into difficulties.
Many migrants from the Caribbean region often sail through the Bahamas as they try to reach America, but US coastguards say the number they have picked up this year from Haiti is the lowest in 15 years.