(BSS/AFP) - Nine members of a Cuban team of 12 canoeists defected during a visit to Canada for a competition, a source close to the matter told AFP on Thursday.

The athletes were participating in the third Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup, which ran from July 9 until Thursday in Montreal.

Neither Cuba`s national institute of sports (INDER) nor the country`s canoe federation offered immediate comment on the case.

Cuban athletes have long taken advantage of their participation in international sporting events to defect from their communist-run island.

In October 2021, the country`s under-23 baseball team went to Mexico for a tournament. Only about half came home.

Cuba is reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades -- one made worse by the fuel blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump in January.

Nationwide blackouts are frequent, and medications, basic goods and fuel are in short supply.