Scarab's still smugglin'

[JETJOCK]

Six victims from capsized boat are identified
By ALLISON KLEIN
Herald Staff Writer
The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office on Sunday identified six of the eight women who died in the ocean off Elliot Key late last week during a botched smuggling attempt.

Reported dead: Carmen Luisa Rodriguez, Odalys Rodriguez Castro, Marilyn Lorenza Marrero, Silvia Barbara Rodriguez Alvarez, Alicia Ortega Perez and Dayana Morales Gonzalez.

Six others were still missing Sunday.

Neither the Medical Examiner's Office nor the U.S. Border Patrol could say how old the women were or the cause of death.

``Hypothermia is a good guess,'' said Dan Geoghegan, assistant chief of the Border Patrol and supervisor at the West Palm Beach and Miami offices.

The tragedy, which the federal agency is calling one of the ``most tragic loss of life in the Miami sector,'' happened at 11 p.m. Thursday when a 38-foot Wellcraft Scarab boat capsized 25 miles southeast of the Port of Miami-Dade. Launched from Tavernier in the Florida Keys, the boat was allegedly bringing 21 Cuban refugees to Miami.

The Border Patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard searched for bodies and survivors round the clock from Key Largo to Miami, but called off their operations Saturday evening.

Border Patrol agents are investigating the theory that the boat was heading back to Tavernier, then stalled and drifted north, before taking on water and flipping under the weight of the overloaded cargo.

Nine survivors were discovered and rescued by the crew of the Greek freighter Kavo Delfini between 8 and 10 a.m. Friday. Five adults and two children had floated all night in the cold ocean water, holding on to the bow of the broken boat. Two more were picked up close by while the Coast Guard was on the way.

``That's a long time to be in the drink,'' Geoghegan said. ``The water temperature was probably in the 50s.''

Two of the survivors are charged with alien smuggling. Both are U.S. residents.

Francisco Gomez, 34, is the boat's owner. Pedro Julio Guevara, 32, has been under investigation for months and implicated in a July smuggling attempt of 37 Cubans.

The seven other Cuban survivors were transported to the Krome Detention Center, where they will be held for further investigation.

Guevara and Gomez are being held in the Federal Detention Center downtown. If they are charged with the deaths and convicted, they could each face the death penalty. A bail hearing is set for 2 p.m. today.



Copyright © 1998 The Miami Herald

[Buoy]

The story would be more exciting if the cargo was going to do something more than mow lawn, or work at a laundromat.

Sounds like the whole thing is composed by illegals, and/or questionable legals.

[Perlmudder]

21 people in a 38 foot boat? c'mon now! thats just greedy...

[Gladhe8er]

I guess that's the risk you take trying to get into the country illegally.

[mosi]

I guess you can still ask dead people if they are illegals.