Eight Haitians die at sea in US asylum bid

THE bodies of three more Haitians have been recovered by authorities in the Dominican Republic, raising the death toll to eight from a capsizing of a smuggler's boat last week.

Civil defence chief Leoncio Calderon Castillo says searchers found the bodies of two Haitian men washed up on a beach on Sunday.

Another asylum seeker's body was found in nearby waters where the seven-metre boat capsized.

Last week, a dozen Haitians who took the risky sea journey, looking for a better life, were rescued by the Dominican navy.

Those rescued told authorities the boat left early on Thursday for the US island of Puerto Rico and overturned a few kilometres from shore.

Smugglers had stolen the boat from a tourism business.