SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, (AFP) – At least 13 migrants from Haiti died when the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into an irrigation canal in neighbouring Dominican Republic, police said Monday.

A police statement said the migrants, travelling in a large four wheel drive SUV, “were being illegally transported from Haiti” to the city of Santiago as well as the capital Santo Domingo, when the vehicle crashed on Sunday.

The driver “lost control” of the vehicle, and it plummeted into the canal.

“Until now, it has not been possible to establish the identity of the driver, nor his condition, because he allegedly disappeared from the scene of the tragedy,” said the police statement.

Among those killed were a newborn and a four-year-old girl.

According to local media, the vehicle was carrying between 16 and 18 people. The police statement said there were three survivors, and the search for more was ongoing.

Haiti, among the world’s poorest nations, has been gripped by years of economic and political crisis, exacerbated by a rise in gang violence.

Gangs control around 80 percent of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, and violent crimes such as kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery and carjackings are common.

This has prompted thousands of Haitians to flee the country, seeking work in the more prosperous Dominican Republic, which has toughened its immigration policy in response.

Dominican authorities are also building a 160-kilometre (100 mile) concrete wall along the 380-kilometre border with Haiti to prevent illegal migrants from entering.

Each year, between 100,000 and 200,000 Haitian immigrants are deported (171,000 in 2022) in an atmosphere of xenophobia and high tension between the two neighbours that share the mountainous Caribbean island of Hispaniola.