Officials: 396 Haitian migrants detained near Bahamas

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Officials say the U.S. Coast Guard has detained a boat carrying 396 Haitian migrants near the Bahamas in one of the biggest human smuggling incidents in the region. Immigration officials in the Bahamas said in a statement Sunday that the migrants were detained close to the far-flung Cay Sal island located between Florida and Cuba. They said the migrants were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard and will be processed on the Bahamian island of Inagua and later repatriated. No further details were immediately available. Thousands of Haitians are fleeing a spike in gang violence and deepening political instability in a country that currently has no democratically elected institutions.