29 More Haitians on Crowded Boat Rescued by Coast Guard

A Coast Guard cutter loaded with hundreds of Haitian refugees came across yet another dangerously crowded sailboat carrying 29 more Haitian refugees Monday and took them aboard as well.

By Monday afternoon, immigration officers and Creole interpreters were interviewing more than 450 Haitian refugees aboard the 270-foot cutter Tahoma. “They’re at their limit, or just about there,” Petty Officer Carl Vitevitch said.

Boaters on a passing ship spotted the first group of 210 Haitian refugees squeezed aboard a 45-foot wooden sailboat Saturday night and alerted the Coast Guard.

Crewmen aboard the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Baronof took them all aboard and later transferred them to the larger Tahoma.

Sunday afternoon, the Baronof crew picked up 216 more Haitians from another 45-foot sailboat, and that group was transferred to the Tahoma.

Three were brought ashore for treatment of dehydration and exposure, then taken to the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Krome Avenue detention center.

The other 423 were still aboard the Tahoma when it encountered the third group Monday about 60 miles southeast of Miami.

INS agents were interviewing them individually Monday to determine if any were eligible for political asylum.

In the meantime, the Coast Guard was ferrying food and blankets out to the Tahoma to accommodate the passengers.

The Coast Guard was at a loss to explain the sudden surge of Haitian immigrants.