At least 40 migrants have died after the boat they were travelling in caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti, a United Nations agency says.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says 41 others were rescued by the Haitian Coast Guard.

The vessel was travelling from Cap-Haitien to the Turks and Caicos Islands, more than 220km (137 miles) away, the IOM said.

The exact cause of the fire is not yet clear, but a local official told Reuters that people on the boat were lighting candles in a ritual to ask for safe passage, leading gasoline-filled drums to catch fire.

The injured are receiving care provided by the IOM, and 11 of them were taken to the nearest hospital, the agency said.

Tens of thousands of people flee Haiti every year, escaping poverty, lawlessness and gang violence at home.

Rival armed groups took control of the capital, Port-au-Prince, earlier this year, forcing Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign weeks later.

Grégoire Goodstein, IOM’s chief of mission in Haiti, said: “This devastating event highlights the risks faced by children, women and men migrating through irregular routes – demonstrating the crucial need for safe and legal pathways for migration.

“Haiti’s socio-economic situation is in agony. The extreme violence over the past months has only brought Haitians to resort to desperate measures even more.”

The lack of economic opportunities, a collapsing health system and school closures are pushing many to consider migration as the only way to survive, the IOM says.

Gang violence on average killed or injured more than one person per hour in the first three months of this year, according to UN data.

More than 86,000 migrants have been forcibly returned to Haiti by neighbouring countries this year, despite the rising violence, according to the IOM.

The Caribbean nation has seen an escalation of violence following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse three years ago.

Hundreds of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti this month as part of a mission to help Haitian police fight the gangs.