C. Guard searching for 10 after boat capsizes

[unhappycamper]

C. Guard searching for 10 after boat capsizes
By Michael Melia - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 16, 2008 22:07:59 EST

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Coast Guard was searching Wednesday for 10 migrants whose boat capsized in rough waters between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Five survivors and two bodies were recovered.

The vessel was carrying 17 people when it sank Monday night on a route that illegal migrants — mostly Dominicans and Cubans — use to come to U.S. shores.

“We were able to survive because we emptied the gasoline containers, and we clung to them until some fishermen rescued us,” Joan Peguero, 20, told The Associated Press as he received treatment for sunburns at a Dominican hospital.

He said the group, including an 8-year-old boy, set out from a beach on the east coast of the Dominican Republic on Monday afternoon but the boat began to sink after striking something in the water.

Peguero and two others were spotted by a passing charter boat Wednesday morning about 7 miles off the northeast tip of the Dominican Republic, Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_coastguardsearch_080116/