Summary

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 13767
Story Slug Cuban Rafters (07/20/1997)
Location Watson Island, Florida
Format Pkg*
Date 07/20/1997
Archive Time 13:35
TRT 1:50
Supers Watson Island, Florida Amateur Video Thais Trevin, Passenger Osvaldo Gonzalez, Passenger Ray Dominquez, Photographer Martha Lopez, Passenger Juan Mendieta, Reporting
Video Description shots of cheering crowd inside of a boat, sot from a woman, shot of the Cuban raft with passengers deboarding to the Coast Guard rescue boat, shots of the celebration, sot from man, Carnival cruise ship in harbor
Script LEAD: A Carnival Cruise ship picked up a raft of seven Cuban refugees they are safe in Miami but it looks like they will get sent back to Cuba Juan Mendieta has this compelling story SCRIPT: NATS Carnival's Destiny cruise ship makes an unscheduled stop in the Florida Straits and picks up 7 Cuban rafters SOT The Cubans were first picked up by a passing freighter Saturday afternoon but it was not headed for the U-S and that's when Destiny's captain decided to change course and pick the rafter's up SOT There were 26 girls celebrating their Quince a special 15th birthday party when the rafters were picked up A photographer filming the celebration was able to capture the high-seas rescue SOT The 6-men and one woman were in good condition though some passengers say one of them had been shot by Cuban officials as he fled the island SOT Passenger even raised the over 25-hundred dollars for the rafters so they could hire an attorney to assist them in their efforts for political asylum though it's likely they'll be repatriated SOT
Not everything listed in the CONUS Archive is necessarily licensable Reporter sound/image is not licensable
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