Cuban boat ca[sizes off coast of Florida.

[MinFaluMuhammad]

Cuban boat capsizes off Florida coast

By MIRANDA LEITSINGER, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:20 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2001

MIAMI -- A smuggling boat on a night run from Cuba capsized in rough seas off Key West today, dumping more than two dozen people into the sea, the Coast Guard said. One person was killed.

Two Coast Guard cutters and a passing freighter rescued 22 people, including four children, but as many as six people were missing, Coast Guard spokesman Jamie Frederick said.

Three Coast Guard vessels and two helicopters were searching for the missing, which may include two children. A man's body was recovered after the 30-foot boat capsized.

Two other capsized speedboats were found nearby but it was not immediately clear whether they were connected to the smuggling run, Lt. Cmdr. Ron LaBrec said.

One was found within a mile of the smuggling boat. The second was within 10 miles of the search area and appeared to be involved in drug smuggling, LaBrec said.

The survivors were first spotted 17 miles southeast of Key West by crew members of the 210-foot coastal freighter Claudia C who heard screams for help.

The crew of the Claudia C pulled 14 people out of the water before the Coast Guard arrived. Two people were found still clinging to the capsized boat. Only the bow was visible in the 8-foot seas, and thunderstorms with 20 mph wind gusts hampered the search.

Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz said the smugglers may be among those rescued, but they haven't been identified.

Coast Guard officials said they believe the group was brought across the Florida Straits by smugglers because it fit the profile of previous smuggling operations.

``It's a small speedboat with more than two dozen people on board traveling at night,'' LaBrec said at district headquarters in Miami.

Under a ``wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy, Cubans who make it to shore in the United States are generally allowed to stay while those caught at sea are sent back.

The status of those rescued was unclear. The Coast Guard said U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials would interview the survivors but all would be kept at sea during the search.

There was no comment from the Cuban government. In the past, Havana has accused Washington of not doing enough to stop illegal-immigrant smuggling between Cuba and the United States.