An aerial photo shows three people stranded on Anguilla Cay, Bahamas, Feb. 8, 2021. (U.S. Coast Guard)
The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday (Feb. 9) rescued three Cubans who had been stranded on a deserted island in the Bahamas for more than a month. A Coast Guard official told local Florida media that the two men and one woman survived by eating conch and rats.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that their surveillance aircraft found the three stranded people on Monday during a routine patrol.
“They noticed some unusual flags there, some different colors, and they saw some orange,” Lt. Justin Dougherty told WPLG-TV. “They went back and checked it out and found three people signaling to them.”
Aircraft commander Mike Allert told the station that the trio survived by eating conch and rats, and that they had erected a large cross on the island of Anguilla Cay in the Bahamas. The Coast Guard released a photo showing a makeshift shelter used by the stranded men.
The Coast Guard said the Cubans said they had been on the island for 33 days. Doty told WPLG-TV that their boat capsized and then swam to the island.
The Coast Guard said the crew of the surveillance plane first dropped Food, water and radios on the stranded people. A helicopter then rescued them from the island and transported them to a hospital in Key West, Fla.
“Our rescue swimmers found them fatigued, dehydrated and with clear indications that they had been there for a long Time.” Eilert told WPLG-TV. the Coast Guard said they were not injured.
On Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard tweeted that U.S. Border Patrol detained the three Cubans from the hospital and transferred them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Pompano Beach, Fla.
It is unclear whether the three Cubans were lost fishermen or trying to migrate to another country.
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