Coast Guard stops boat with 27 migrants between Cuba and Mexico

The U.S. Coast Guard stopped a migrant boat that was taking on water with almost 30 people on board off the western tip of Cuba, the service said.

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The homemade boat was floating in the Yucatán Channel, a more than 100-mile wide strait between Cuba and Mexico, last Thursday night, according to a Coast Guard press release.

The wooden vessel was sinking and had no fuel or water on board. The Coast Guard released footage showing clothing and other items strewn about the boat.

The Coast Guard Cutter Raymond Evans launched a patrol-boat crew to intercept the vessel and transfer the 27 people to the Evans, the agency said.

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They were then transferred to the Cutter Winslow Griesser, which took them back to Cuba on Monday, the Coast Guard said. A Coast Guard photo showed men and women in the group.

“Attempting to migrate illegally by sea aboard overloaded and unseaworthy vessels is extremely dangerous and places lives at unnecessary risk,” Lt. Cmdr. Luis Garcia, a U.S. Coast Guard liaison officer to Cuba, said in a statement Thursday. “The Coast Guard and our federal, state and local partners maintain a constant presence throughout the maritime approaches to the United States to detect, deter and prevent unlawful maritime migration.”

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