PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The director of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency says two fishermen have died in rough water churned up by the approaching Hurricane Matthew.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste says a boat carrying one of the men capsized early Monday off the tiny fishing town of Saint Jean du Sud as he was trying to bring his wooden skiff to shore.

Jean-Baptiste said the body of the other was recovered a short time later off the nearby town of Aquin after he apparently drowned.

Both towns are near the south-western coastal city of Les Cayes. The centre of Hurricane Matthew was expected to pass near or over south-western Haiti today, but the area was already experiencing rain from the outer bands of the storm yesterday.

The deaths of the two fishermen in Haiti brings the total death toll from Hurricane Matthew to at least four.

The Government banned boating along the country’s coastlines starting Saturday. But the head of an 80-member fishermen’s association in the south coast town of Gressier said some fishermen were taking to the seas early yesterday.

Johnny Souffrant said, “They feel they have to take risks to support their families.”