A group of 18 Cuban refugees landed on a Florida beach early Wednesday after a five-day sea passage aboard a makeshift vessel powered by a Russian automobile engine, the US Border Patrol said. The craft was spotted by the West Palm Beach police after it came ashore on Riviera Beach at about 2:00 am (0600 GMT), said Border Patrol agent Frank Miller.
Miller said the group of 16 men and two women told authorities they had departed from Manati, Cuba on Friday. "They came in a home-made boat that is in very bad shape, was about 21 feet and they put on a 1950s Russian car engine that seemed to work," he said. The Cubans remained in custody Wednesday while officials processed them for release under US immigration laws, which gives Cuban refugees automatic entry if they reach US dry land.
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