Boy, 5, survives days in sea

By TERRY SPENCER

The Associated Press

MIAMI --- A 5-year-old boy was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast Thursday, one of three survivors from a boat carrying 14 Cubans that sank two days earlier in the Atlantic.

Seven people were presumed drowned and three others were missing, the Coast Guard said. The body of one woman was found floating about three miles from the boy, and authorities believe she had been tied to the same inner tube, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Carr.

The boy was spotted by two fishermen Thursday morning about two miles off Fort Lauderdale.

Earlier Thursday, the two other survivors came ashore on another inner tube on Key Biscayne, Carr said. The two survivors --- a 33- year-old man and a 22-year-old woman --- were severely dehydrated and sunburned.

The two told Coast Guard officials they had been among 14 people on a 17-foot boat that left Cuba before dawn Sunday, headed for Florida. The boat sank Tuesday, and the survivors said they saw seven people drown.

"They did say that several people on the boat were seen going under," said Miami-Dade police spokesman Ed Munn.

The man and woman said they grabbed one of two inflated inner tubes tied to the boat, while five others, including the boy, grabbed the other one.

Their story prompted a search and rescue operation in the Atlantic by the Coast Guard and the Miami-Dade Police Marine Patrol on Thursday.

Carr said Coast Guard officials haven't interviewed the boy yet. The child was taken to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, where he was in good condition after being treated for minor dehydration and cuts on his hand.

"He is very alert and talkative," said hospital spokeswoman Lauri Brunelli. "He knows his name and that he's from Cuba."

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