Nassau (Bahamas) (AFP) – Seventeen suspected migrants from Haiti died in a boat accident off the coast of the Bahamas early on Sunday, says PM Philip Davis, adding “it is presumed that additional persons are missing. Search and recovery continue as we speak.” Human smugglers are known to use the Bahamas, a group of islands near the coast of the US state of Florida, as a jumping-off point for the potentially treacherous sea journey for Haitians seeking to reach the United States.