Hurricane Matthew Kills Two Fishermen in Haiti

(The Weather Channel) As authorities and residents in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba are bracing for Hurricane Matthew’s arrival, the storm has already claimed the lives of two victims in Haiti.

Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the director of Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency, told the Associated Press Monday that two fishermen were killed in rough water churned up by the approaching Hurricane Matthew.

One of the men was killed when his boat capsized early Monday off the tiny fishing town of Saint-Jean du Sud. The body of a second victim was recovered off the nearby town of Aquin after he apparently drowned.

The deaths of the two fishermen in Haiti brings the total death toll from Hurricane Matthew to at least four.  The massive storm is already responsible for two deaths last week, one in Colombia and another in St. Vincent.

The government had banned boating along the country’s coastlines starting Saturday. According to the head of an 80-member fishermen’s association in the south coast town of Gressier, Johnny Souffrant, some fishermen were taking to the seas early Monday despite the ban.

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