Miami Herald, The (FL)
March 7, 1999
Section: Front
Edition: Final
Page: 1A

40 FEARED DEAD AS BOATS SINK 3 HAITIANS RESCUED OFF PALM BEACH
CHARLES RABIN, RICK JERVIS And FRANCES ROBLES,
Herald Staff Writers

In one of the worst immigrant smuggling disasters at sea off South Florida, at least four people are dead and up to 36 are missing after two boats carrying Haitians sank between Palm Beach County and the Bahamas.

Sailors on a passing freighter first heard screams around 2 a.m. Saturday. Two hours later, U.S. Coast Guard officers caught sight of two men clinging to a bobbing barrel, 30 miles from land.
One slipped and drowned, the other was rescued - one of only three survivors so far.

The Coast Guard continued to search as far north as Cape Canaveral into Saturday night, but found nothing.

The survivors were identified as: Carmel August, 39, of Port Dupiex, Haiti; Peter Pierre, 25, of St. Mark, Haiti; and Louis Pierre, 42, whose hometown was unknown. August and Peter Pierre were treated at area hospitals and released to U.S. immigration officials who would later take them to Krome detention center.

Louis Pierre, who is not related to Peter, was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he is being treated for injuries.

Only two of the dead were recovered when Coast Guard Cutter Matagorda. The crew was unable to reach two other bodies sighted.

Survivors told the Coast Guard there were two boats, a 17-footer carrying 16 men and two women, and a 20-footer with 20 men and five women.

The first boat started taking on water late Friday night, and the second came over to help. When passengers on the first boat began to board the second, it, too, sank in the 70-degree water.

``That's the largest group I can remember where it's been a coordinated smuggling effort,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jeff Hall.

The U.S. Border Patrol said the boats left from West End, Grand Bahama Island. The Bahamas are a common staging area for smuggling trips that originate in Haiti and Cuba.

Another tragedy

Saturday's accident follows another smuggling tragedy on Dec. 17, when a 29-foot boat sank in six-foot seas just off Elliott Key, 22 miles south of Miami. That day, eight bodies were recovered and five people were lost at sea and presumed dead. One of the survivors pleaded guilty last week to an alien-smuggling conspiracy; his co-defendant is charged with manslaughter.

The accidents come as deteriorating economic conditions in Haiti and Cuba are causing a wave of immigrant smuggling. The number of Haitians and Cubans trying to land in Florida has jumped significantly in the past year. In 1998, 1,206 Haitians and 1,025 Cubans were intercepted by the Coast Guard trying to make it to shore. Already this year, 587 Haitians and 406 Cubans have been intercepted.

The Coast Guard was alerted to Saturday's disaster at 2 a.m. when sailors on the Malta-registered Tomis Faith radioed that they heard screams in the water.

A HH-65 Dolphin helicopter, its pilots wearing night-vision goggles, spotted the two men clinging to the barrel about 4:30 a.m.

The men had probably been in the water for 10 hours, the Coast Guard estimated.

Search grows

More boats and planes - with craft from Opa-locka, Clearwater and Fort Pierce - soon joined the search party.

At 8:30 a.m., a helicopter crew found two more men in the water 20 miles north of the first sighting and rescued both. The Coast Guard says they floated so far because the Gulf Stream is moving at almost 5 knots.

Moments later, the Matagorda picked up two more bodies. The helicopter crew saw a third, but it went under before it could be picked up.

``None of the others have been seen since,'' said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Mark Woodring.

No one found in the water was wearing a life jacket, nor were any found floating in the ocean.

Border Patrol Assistant Chief Dan Geoghegan said the three survivors were not completely cooperative about providing information.

7 Cubans picked up in Bay

The discovery came only hours after the Coast Guard found a group of seven Cubans on a small wooden boat near Pacific Reef, at the south end of Biscayne Bay. Little information was available, but Petty Officer Hall said the 12-foot boat carrying the Cubans sank immediately after they were rescued.

Late Saturday that group was aboard the Matagorda - the same boat carrying the Haitian bodies - waiting for immigration officials.

Geoghegan said he would like to identify the smuggler behind Saturday's disaster - if he is still alive.

``We would use the rescued Haitians as material witnesses against the smuggler,'' Geoghegan said.

Shock in Miami neighborhoods

The Haitian community reacted to the news in shock and anger. Most were not aware of the tragedy. All blamed it on the country's political disarray and economic hardship.

At Radio Station WLQY 1320, a Creole station, the phone lines were lit up.

Said one caller: ``Life is really bad in Haiti, there is no security. That is why people are leaving. Politics in Haiti is awful. That's what is driving people onto the boats.''

At Bel'Fouchette, a well-known take-out restaurant on Miami Avenue, the news hit home to many. ``My mother lives in Haiti,'' said Fred Joseph. ``I call the embassy all the time to get her out. She has six kids here. She's worried she may die there and no one will be here to bury her.''

Herald photographer Carl Juste contributed to this report.

Illustration:Color map: Where first Haitian bodies were found

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Copyright (c) 1999 The Miami Herald