| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District |
|
|
| Press Release |
Date: May 24, 2005 Contact: Lt. j.g. Eric Willis |
|
129 MIGRANTS INTERCEPTED, MANY WOMEN AND CHILDREN SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Last night a patrolling Coast Guard C-130 airplane spotted an overloaded yola 26 miles northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, that turned out to be a group of 129 Dominican Republic Nationals including 48 females, three of whom were pregnant and eight minors. Immediately after spotting the home made vessel, the C-130 crew notified the Sector San Juan Command Center where the Controllers diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Ocracoke to intercept and notified local Forces United for Rapid Action (FURA) units along with DHS partners Customs and Border protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Cutter Ocracoke intercepted the overloaded 40-foot, blue yola and immediately distributed lifejackets to all aboard. The migrants were then safely brought aboard the Cutter and given food and water. This morning at 8:00 a.m. the cutter Ocracoke rendezvoused with the Dominican Republic navy vessel CANOPUS and safely transferred the group to the patrol boat for the short trip back to the nation they departed. Historically, an average of 15 to 20 percent of migrants traveling across the Mona passage are female and very few minors. It was unclear as to why so many women and children were aboard this particular yola. ### The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
printer friendly