26917: Hermantin(Sun-Sentinel)911 call directs police to boatload of Haitian migrants (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

911 call directs police to boatload of Haitian migrants


Boat found off Hobe Sound



By Leon Fooksman
and Stephen Deere staff Writers

December 16, 2005



A boatload of Haitians was found safe off Martin County early Thursday 
afternoon, hours after police received a frantic 911 call from them.

The initial call for help came to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office about 
10 a.m. The caller was aboard a 27-foot boat with about 20 other people, 
including two infants and a pregnant woman.

The caller said the Haitians had put to sea in Port-au-Prince about 10 days 
ago. The motor on the boat broke several days ago, and they had no food or 
water left, the caller said. Some people were becoming ill.

But, the caller said, they could see land at times and had decided to try their 
luck using a cell phone. They dialed 911 and asked for help.

"We got four little kids with us," said the caller, who identified himself as 
"Sean" on a 911 tape the Sheriff's Office released Thursday afternoon. "We are 
north of Palm Beach."

Sean could not identify any landmarks, except to say he could see the buildings 
in West Palm Beach.

On the tape, Sean appeared confused about the boat's whereabouts and at one 
point told the 911 dispatcher that he was in the Intracoastal Waterway. Sean 
also told the dispatcher he was about 20 kilometers from land. Then later he 
changed that to 300 or 400 yards.

"Do you have any kind of horn?" The dispatcher asked.

"Yeah, we have horn," Sean said. "We've been honking it for the last two days."

Sheriff's Office and Coast Guard helicopters immediately launched a search for 
the boat but at first could not find it.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the Haitians were found safe aboard the stranded boat, 10 
to 15 miles off the coast of Hobe Sound, said Paul Miller, a spokesman for the 
Sheriff's Office.

The immigrants were being held aboard a Coast Guard cutter and were given food 
and water, said Petty Officer Ryan Doss, a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami. Doss 
did not know if any of them required medical attention.

Doss said he could not provide more details on the status of the Haitians until 
immigration officials decide their fate.

If immigrants are found to be undocumented, the Coast Guard will typically 
repatriate them, Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.


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