2 Stowaways Pulled From Water by Ship

Two stowaways on a freighter traveling from Japan to Long Beach jumped overboard Wednesday near Anacapa Island and were found by a passing fishing vessel.

The Coast Guard took the two men, who were suffering from hypothermia, into custody. The unidentified men were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard for treatment, and the Border Patrol was trying to determine their nations of origin, Coast Guard Petty Officer Patrick Chase said.

Coast Guard officers were unable to communicate with the men, who appeared to be in their mid-30s and possibly of Middle Eastern descent, Chase added.

The captain of the Lassia, a 556-foot freighter headed to Long Beach from Yokohama, Japan, radioed the Coast Guard Wednesday afternoon after his crew found two other stowaways, who told crew members that two stowaways had just jumped overboard about two miles from Anacapa Island.

The Coast Guard put out a call to all ships in the area, and a fishing boat spotted the men in the water. The Coast Guard intercepted the fishing boat and picked up the men, estimated to have been in the water about an hour.

“We couldn’t talk to them, so we have no idea what they were doing,” Chase said. “We don’t know if they were illegal immigrants or what.”

If the men are found to be in this country illegally they will probably be deported, according to Coast Guard officials.