A boat carrying 23 illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico sank off the northern coast of the latter island, near the town of Camuy. Three women are confirmed to have drowned and two men have reportedly reached the shore alive. Puerto Rican authorities believe that there is a good chance that the remaining 18 missing passengers survived the wreckage, having discovered several lifejackets on the beach. The boat left the Dominican town of Nagua on Saturday, stopping to pick up more would-be immigrants in Samana. The coastal waters in the Camuy area with its many reefs were a bad choice for the voyagers, according to US Coast Guard official John Gaffney. The boat was damaged when it struck one of those reefs, although Dominican officials believe that a dispute onboard was what caused the accident.