The 61 migrants who were discovered lost at sea off the Pacific beach of Playa Guiones were taken yesterday to a shelter in the northwestern Guanacaste town of Carrillo, where they will stay until they are transported back to Ecuador, their ship's country of origin, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The 56 Chinese, three Ecuadorians and two Peruvians were discovered by two Panamanian ships Saturday and delivered to shore at Flamingo, Guanacaste, by the Costa Rican Coast Guard early yesterday morning.

At the shelter, the migrants were given medical attention. Some had suffered dehydration, and one is a woman in the late stages of pregnancy, the statement said.

Although most of those aboard the boat are from China, the law states that they must be taken back to the country they departed from, and Costa Rican authorities are taking the necessary steps to transport them to Ecuador.

Authorities are also investigating whether any of the people aboard were acting as “coyotes” to smuggle the others.

This marks the third time in seven months a shipwrecked boat carrying migrants has been found off the Pacific coast. In January, an Ecuadorian ship was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in Costa Rican waters (TT, Jan. 26), and in October of last year, 128 migrants lost at sea were discovered by a Costa Rican boat, the statement said.

-Tico Times