HAVANA (AFP) - A boat carrying more than 200 Haitian migrants headed for the United States ran aground off the coast of Cuba on Tuesday (June 28), where they received humanitarian aid, the communist island's official Granma newspaper reported.

The boat arrived on Monday night off the coast of Villa Clara, known as an exit point for Cubans trying to make their own way to America.

The migrants received medical care and humanitarian aid, Red Cross representative Miguel Angel Fernando Lopez told Granma.

They will be transferred to a school nearby, from where they will be returned home.

Last month, another 800 Haitian migrants, including children and a baby, ran aground in the same area of Cuba on their way to the US.

Some 4,000 people altogether, who arrived in 76 boats in 2020 and 2021, have received aid in Cuba, said the Ciego de Avila newspaper.

Cuba and Haiti are separated by the 77km Windward Passage, where strong currents have sunk or grounded many vessels.

During US President Joe Biden's tenure, more than 200,000 people attempting to enter the country illegally have been interdicted at the border each month and sent back.