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The
Miami Herald, Feb. 21, 2003.
Cessna crashes in water off Keys
By Jennifer Babson. Jbabson@Herald.Com. Posted on Fri, Feb.
21, 2003 in The Miami Herald.
A twin-engine plane on its way from Havana to Miami crashed off the Keys on
Thursday. The plane's pilot, the only person aboard, survived.
Denis Guillermo Murphy, 47, of Sunrise, ditched the Cessna 402 about 4 ½
miles from the Seven Mile Bridge near Marathon.
A recreational boater spotted Murphy going down just before 12:30 p.m. and
rushed to his rescue, said Jim Huffstodt, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The pilot ''was incoherent and passing in and out of consciousness,''
Huffstodt said. "He had suffered a severe blow to the head and also his
neck was hurting.''
By evening, Murphy had recovered and was expected to be released from a
local hospital.
The Cessna 402, which generally has nine seats, including those for the
pilot and copilot, is commonly used in commuter airline operations.
A Fish and Wildlife officer said Murphy told him he worked for Airways
Express of Miami, and was on his way back from dropping a passenger off in
Havana on Wednesday when the engine caught fire.
The sunken plane is registered to a Fort Lauderdale company called Johan-Pat
Inc. Florida corporate records list Robert J. Paterno and Izad Djahanshahi as
officers for Johan-Pat.
In the late 1980s and the '90s, Djahanshahi ran Airways International Inc.,
a charter company that flew from from Miami and Fort Lauderdale to various
destinations in the Bahamas and Keys.
It was not clear if that company is still in business under that name or
another title.
A few companies operate charter flights between Miami and Havana, though
they are required to get federal permission under the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
A U.S. Treasury spokesman said he did not know whether the company had the
approval it would need from several U.S. agencies to make the flights.
Messages left at an office where both Johan-Pat principals work, and at
Paterno's home, were not returned.
Murphy's father said Thursday that he was en route to Marathon.
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said Murphy radioed air
traffic controllers in Miami before his crash.
''He did have a flight plan -- he was in contact with air traffic control,''
said FAA spokesman Christopher White. "He notified them that he had
mechanical difficulties. That was his last communication.''
Herald researcher Elisabeth Donovan and staff writer Luisa Yanez contributed
to this report.
Coast Guard intercepts speedboat full of Cubans
By Jennifer Babson. Jbabson@Herald.Com. Posted on Wed, Feb.
19, 2003
KEY WEST - The Coast Guard scoured seas off the Keys on Tuesday and located
a disabled speedboat en route to the United States with at least 18 Cuban
migrants aboard.
Authorities say at least one man aboard the 28-foot boat was trying to
smuggle the group to Florida and may have had an accomplice on the vessel.
Authorities did not release the man's name. He is expected to face federal
charges.
The migrants will probably be repatriated, although prosecutors could still
decide to bring some ashore to testify against any suspected smugglers.
Under U.S. immigration policy, Cubans who reach land are allowed to stay,
while those caught at sea are generally returned to the island.
The migrants were aboard a Coast Guard cutter Tuesday night.
The Coast Guard began searching for the vessel at 2 a.m. after ''receiving
notification of its departure,'' agency spokeswoman Danielle DeMarino said.
The Florida-registered boat was found about 30 miles south of Key West after
its occupants shot a rescue flare that was spotted by the Coast Guard. The
migrants included five women and two children, DeMarino said.
DeMarino declined to specify how the Coast Guard learned that the craft,
described as a Baha brand, was on its way toward Florida or from where along the
island's coast it departed.
Cuban border authorities, however, routinely forward such information to the
Coast Guard's Seventh District office in Miami.
The Coast Guard deployed a helicopter, two planes and a cutter in the
12-hour search.
''This is very good news that everybody is OK,'' DeMarino said.
"It started out as an illegal voyage, but the important part here was
that there were no deaths involved.''
Federal authorities say more than 60 Cubans have died in the past several
years while trying to cross from the island to the Keys on smuggling boats. | 
