4 dead, 7 missing after boat capsizes off Panama coast

The bodies of drowned migrants were pulled out of the sea off the coast of Panama after a boat capsized in bad weather, Panama's border police said, Report informs, citing Reuters.

While authorities have not confirmed the number of victims or their nationalities, reports from media outlets including Telemetro and TVn2 said the boat was carrying 25 migrants, four of whom were killed and seven others were missing.

Record numbers of migrants have reached the southern border of the United States in recent years, as thousands travel from South America on their way through Central America to the US-Mexico border. Most flee poverty, gang violence, or other hardships in their home countries.

In a statement, Panama's border police agency, Senafront, said the victims were found near Panama's border with Colombia in the Carreto area, near the Caribbean port of Obaldia. The area is not far from a route through a deadly stretch of jungle known as the Darien Gap where many U.S.-bound migrants journey on foot.