| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District |
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| Press Release |
Date: Feb. 28, 2004 Contact: |
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TUGBOAT CREW SPOTS WAYWARD DOMINICAN MIGRANTS Coast Guard rescues migrants far offshore SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The crew of a tugboat pulling a barge from San Juan to Philadelphia may have saved the lives of 19 Dominican Republic migrants when it reported sighting them in the North Atlantic Ocean more than 100 miles north of Desecheo Island about 4 p.m. today. The illegal migrants, 15 males and four females, were riding in a 20-foot fiberglass yola powered by one outboard engine. They had become misoriented and found themselves well out to sea on a smuggling trip from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. When the migrants spotted the tug and barge, they approached in hopes of boarding the barge for a ride to its next port. After the sighting was reported to the Coast Guard, the tugboat remained with the migrants until a Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet arrived overhead to watch over the migrants. A Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter relieved the jet and maintained watch until the Coast Guard Cutter Vashon, a 110-foot patrol boat based in San Juan, reached the migrants and took them safely aboard at 8:30 p.m. It is expected the migrants will be repatriated to the Dominican Republic. While aboard Coast Guard cutters, migrants receive food, water and medical attention as needed. Petty Officer Frank Arencibia of the Coast Guard Greater Antilles Section said, "a boat that size, with that many people aboard, that far out to sea, was an extremely dangerous situation. Fortunately, everything worked out for the best." In the first two months of the year, 2,159 Dominican Republic migrants have been intercepted at sea, compared to 1,469 intercepted during all of 2003. ### The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
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