Three Cubans detained in Florida after surviving on coconuts on empty island

Three people who survived largely on coconuts for more than a month before they were rescued from an uninhabited island in the Bahamas are now in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody, officials said on Wednesday.

The US Coast Guard had rescued three Cubans stranded on the desert island for 33 days, after officers saw the group waving a makeshift flag to gain their attention.

The group, including two men and a woman, had been living on an uninhabited Bahamian island, Anguilla Cay, for 33 days after their boat capsized.

But after being helped, with rescuers hailing their survival as a miracle, the three have been detained in the US.

The US border patrol took custody of the three Cubans from a hospital in Key West, in the chain of islands off the southern tip of Florida, and they were taken to a facility in Pompano Beach, near Fort Lauderdale, the Coast Guard said.

Immigration officials did not immediately say whether they would be deported.
It was not clear whether this group was attempting to come to the US or just lost at sea, as US Coast Guard officials said that at the time they were focused on just rescuing them.

A larger group of Cubans was stranded for 10 days in a beach of Cay Sal Bank, not far from Anguilla Cay, last October.

The Coast Guard had found them while flying a routine mission from the Florida Keys, and told the Florida Sun Sentinel the group lived off coconuts, conchs and rats while on the island.

“We were alerted to them by the flags that they actually had in addition to a large cross that they put out there for themselves,” helicopter pilot Mike Allert told the Miami TV station WPLG.

The pilot said he then decided to fly back around Anguilla Cay to investigate and a crew returned to the island later on Monday to drop water, food and a radio.

A helicopter crew returned on Tuesday to pick them up.

One of the pilots who flew on the second trip, Lt Justin Dougherty, said the woman was low on blood sugar and was given packets to get her levels back to normal.

“They definitely seemed very relieved,” he said after they had been discovered and offered supplies. “They had lost track of exactly what day it was.”

Dougherty said the stranded travelers said the coconuts kept them hydrated, as there was no fresh water on the small island. The three sheltered from the intense sun under palm trees.