Hope Fading For Missing Cubans

The U.S. Coast Guard searched the Florida Straits on Monday after three Cubans rescued at sea said they had been aboard a speedboat that sank with 31 others aboard.

Coast Guard crews located a capsized boat matching the Cubans' description about 16 miles from where the three were picked up, but they did not find any bodies.

No one other than the survivors rescued Sunday had life jackets in the shark-infested waters. The three found Sunday reportedly had second-degree burns from the blazing sun and were severely dehydrated.

Coast Guard crews located a capsized 28-foot boat about 16 miles from where the three were picked up, but they only found a life jacket. They had searched an 802-square-mile area as of late Monday.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Doss says officials do not know where the boat was headed, but "34 people in one boat is usually an indication that they were trying to enter the United States illegally." A speedboat that size, says Doss, should not have been carrying more than 10 people.

Survivors say the boat left Cuba on Aug. 16 and capsized about 30 minutes after leaving, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said. Survivors told rescuers that twenty people floated away immediately, and the rest clung to the hull for some time before letting go.

Two women and one man were rescued Sunday by a merchant ship about 30 miles north of Matanzas, Cuba, and taken back to an unspecified Cuban port.

The Cuban government notified the U.S. Coast Guard, which began searching with ships and helicopters late Sunday.

Cuba sent a boat and an aircraft to help with the search, and a British navy ship that was in the area joined the effort for a while Monday.

If the report is accurate and the 31 other people survivors say were on the boat have died, this is the deadliest known migrant boat trip from Cuba to Florida in recent years, according to Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz.

Thousands of migrants from Cuba and other Caribbean nations try to reach the U.S. illegally by boat each year. U.S. officials say they don't know how many die trying.

Cubans who reach U.S. soil generally are allowed to stay, but those caught at sea are usually returned home. Many have tried to reach the United States aboard Florida-based speedboats run by smugglers hired illicitly by U.S. relatives.

The deadliest migrant trip on Coast Guard record happened three years ago when more than 20 migrants were believed to have died trying to reach Florida on a 24-foot boat.

The Coast Guard said Monday that so far no Cuban-Americans have come forward to say that they were expecting relatives to make the trip.