PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – British investigators found no evidence to support claims that Turks and Caicos authorities rammed a boat of Haitian migrants in May, but said police were ill-equipped to handle the capsizing that killed at least 61 people, according to a report released Wednesday.

Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said instability caused by overcrowding most likely caused the boat to overturn in shark-filled waters just off the shore of Providenciales, one of the Turks and Caicos Islands, before dawn on May 4.

The report released by Haiti’s ambassador to the Bahamas said the marine police were “ill-equipped” for the rescue operation and “suffered from poor communications, lack of central coordination, and slow mobilisation of resources.”

The Haitian sailboat was nearing the British Caribbean territory when a police vessel intercepted it and tried to tow it to shore – even though it was overloaded with at least 150 migrants, the report said.

“It would appear that the sloop capsized while under tow,” it said. “The trigger for the capsize cannot be stated with certainty, but the underlying problem of the inherent lack of stability… was almost certainly the main causal factor in this tragic accident.”

Survivors claimed a police boat rammed them twice, capsizing their vessel and pitching passengers – most of whom did not know how to swim – into the ocean.