| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District |
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| Press Release |
Date: May 10, 2005 Contact: Lt. j.g. Eric Willis |
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MIGRANTS IN DISTRESS USE CELLPHONE TO CALL FOR HELP SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A group of sixty seven migrants attempting to illegally enter Puerto Rico, called 911 this morning just after 8:00 a.m. after their single engine, 30 foot yola became disabled north west of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) personnel of Puerto Rico, forwarded the call to the Coast Guard's Sector San Juan, Command Center where watch standers gathered details of the smuggling venture gone bad. The caller was disoriented but was in sight of land which was in the direction of the sunrise. Command center personnel worked closely with SEMA to locate the caller's general locatio, determined to be northwest of Puerto Rico, in the Mona Passage. Coast Guard, Customs & Border Protection (CBP), and Forces United for Rapid Action (FURA) all quickly responded by dispatching or diverting aircraft and vessels in the area. The cell caller could hear one of the searching helicopters and was able to guide the crew to them by relaying directions over the phone to watch standers in San Juan. The yola was located 12 nautical miles northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico by an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter operating from nearby Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen. First on scene was Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo followed closely by closely by the Cutter Venturous and two FURA small boats. All 67 migrants (53 men and 14 women), one Haitian male and the remaining Dominican Republic nationals, were safely brought aboard Venturous and will soon be repatriated to the Dominican Republic.
The Cutter Key Largo and small boat from Cutter Venturous, work in unison to rescue 67 migrants on board a diabled and adrift yola in the northern Mona Passage. Photos courtesy of CG 6516 and Cutter Venturous. CGC Key Largo is a 110 foot patrol boat home ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico CGC Venturous is a 210 foot medium endurance cutter home ported in St. Petersburg, FL ### The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
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