Posted at 6:27 a.m. EDT Friday, May 25, 2001 in the
Miami Herald
KEY WEST, Fla. -- (AP) -- The Coast Guard suspended its search for a Cuban
migrant who apparently jumped from a cutter headed to Cuba to repatriate him and
23 others, officials said.
The agency called off its search for Fernando Diaz-Morales around noon
Thursday. Rescue units covered more than 1,000 square miles in 26 hours looking
for Diaz-Morales, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Ron LaBrec said.
"This was a difficult search because we were not notified by the other
migrants for more than 24 hours that Diaz-Morales had jumped from the cutter,''
LaBrec said. "At this point, we have well exceeded the time period where he
could have survived if he were in the water.''
Crews began looking for Diaz-Morales, 30, on Wednesday after the cutter
arrived in Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba, and could not locate Diaz-Morales among the
other migrants. Officials said they think he jumped off the ship Tuesday evening
near the Dry Tortugas, a group of islands just west of Key West.
The Coast Guard originally picked up Diaz-Morales and eight others on a
makeshift raft about 20 miles off the coast of Pompano Beach on May 18. | 