Cuban Border Patrol vessel
HAVANA, Oct 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least five Cubans, including a young girl, died Saturday when a speedboat taking migrants to Florida collided with a Border Guard vessel and flipped over, the interior ministry said.
Eighteen people were rescued from the waters north of Bahia Honda, in western Cuba, where the collision occurred, the statement said.
The fatalities included a man, three women and a girl, the ministry added, without providing their identities.
The collision occurred as the Border Guard vessel sought to question the occupants of the speedboat, according to the statement read on Cuban television.
Cuba blamed the United States for the incident, saying that it is another consequence of the “hostile and cruel” US embargo policy on Cuba.
The US Embassy in Havana offered the country’s condolences on Saturday.
“As we strengthen safe and legal pathways for migration, we warn against attempting dangerous and sometimes deadly irregular migration,” it tweeted.
Recent shortages of food, medicine and fuel, combined with frequent power outages, have sent Cuban emigration soaring.
Between October 2021 and August 2022, the US Coast Guard intercepted more than 4,600 Cubans traveling by boat, almost six times more than in all of 2020., according to US Customs and Border Protection figures. — NNN-AGENCIES
