Havana, Aug. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 55 Dominican migrants trying to reach the US territory of Puerto Rico for a better life died after engine failure set them adrift at sea for nearly two weeks, said reports reaching here Wednesday from Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.

    Fishermen rescued 36 survivors Tuesday from a boat crammed with dead bodies, said Dominican officials. 20 or so of them remained in precarious condition and six have died in hospitals in Nagua and San Francisco de Macoris in the northeast of the country.

    The 9-meter boat was found in Nagua, less than 50 kilometers from where the 86 people started the journey from the village of El Limon on July 29, he said.

    The boat engine failed two days later when it had almost reached the Puerto Rican island of Desecheo.

    The captain abandoned the ship and got on a passing migrant boat, promising to fetch help. He never returned.

    Migrants on board began to die a couple of days after all of the water and food ran out by the third day, said a survivor.

    Recent years have witnessed a surge in the number of Dominicans trying to reach Puerto Rico, some 160 kilometers from their country, in desperate attempts to get away from its worst economiccrisis in decades.

    More than 7,000 Dominicans have been caught making the perilous journey since last October. At least 60 people died during the period. Enditem