More than forty Haitian immigrants trying to reach the United States in a small sailing boat have run aground at a tourist resort in Jamaica.

The group told police they'd been at sea for more than nine days and had been without food for six of them.

The Jamaican authorities say the Haitians will be allowed to apply for refugee status, but correspondents say their applications are unlikely to be successful.

Nearly all Haitian boat people reaching Jamaica in recent years have been deported.