Six Cubans Die, Eight Are Rescued On Bahamas Island

Tom Llamas from nbc6 spoke to one of the survivors:

“Royde Martinez Chavez said he and 13 other people left Cuba on Jan. 13 on a boat no longer than 25 feet.

“The forecast was 3- to 4-foot waves, but they were 3 to 4 meters high,” Chavez said. “We experienced every problem possible. God truly tested our will.”

Chavez said the boat’s motor broke and they drifted in the ocean for about a week, getting sunburned and growing sicker every day.

“One of the women started hallucinating because of the cold and salt water. She was the first to die,” he said.

The boat then crashed into Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. Chavez said everyone scrambled to climb rocks and stay above water. That’s when he lost his finger and five others lost their lives.

“The waves were crashing too hard. They were too weak and that’s where we lost them,” he said.

Chavez and seven survivors spent 10 days on the cay, eating snails and drinking rainwater to stay alive. A Bahamian fisherman spotted them Thursday and notified the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Chavez got lucky. His injuries were severe enough for him to be transported to a U.S. hospital in Tavernier, FL. Because he touched U.S. soil, Officials from Customs and Border Patrol were forced to grant him a parole immigration card.

Under the Wet Foot, Dry Foot policy, Cuban refugees must reach dry land in order to stay in the United States.

Bahamian authorities will decide whether to deport the seven other survivors.

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