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Eight Cubans repatriated
to Cuba after being rescued by a cruise
ship
By Elaine De Valle, edevalle@herald.com.
Published January 7, 2003 in The Miami Herald.
Eight Cuban migrants rescued last weekend
by a cruise liner were taken back to Cuba
Wednesday in the first such repatriation
of the new year.
The group, all men, disembarked a Coast
Guard cutter at Bahia de Cabañas
on Cuba's northern coast about 11 a.m.,
according to a statement from the U.S. Coast
Guard.
Passengers on Royal Carribean's Brilliance
of the Seas spotted the raft about 7 p.m.
Sunday as the ship returned to the Port
of Miami after a 10-day cruise, a company
spokeman and passengers said.
The ship turned around after the passengers
convinced the crew of what they saw and
about an hour later, using three searchlights,
found the group.
The men on the small wooden, homemade raft
told the passengers and the crew that they
had been at sea for seven days and that
they had encountered trouble with their
vessel, losing a sail. They said they had
been drifting for three days with no food
or water.
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