Almost 5000 Dominicans crossed to PR

San Juan.- A total of 1,504 undocumented Dominicans and Cubans managed to cross to Puerto Rico between October 2005 and October 2006, according to United States Coastguard figures.

The U.S. federal coastal agency says that 797 Dominicans and 707 Cubans made the treacherous crossing across the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. However, 3,116 Dominicans and 106 Cubans were thwarted in their attempt to immigrate illegally when intercepted by the Coastguard, the PR Police United Rapid Action Force and U.S. Border Patrol agents while on the high seas.

During this period, 457 undocumented Cuban and Dominican nationals arrived on the Isla de la Mona. However, a further 570 were detained in the attempt. As the Isla de la Mona is Puerto Rican territory, the Cubans who make landfall are protected by U.S. law that entitles them to work, and after a year and a day they may apply for U.S. residency.

Yola feared lost en route to Puerto Rico

SANTO DOMINGO.- The Emergency Operations Center (COE) has mounted a sea rescue mission off the coastal town of Bayahibe (SE), where a small craft known locally as a ?yola? with an unknown number of would-be illegal immigrants is feared to have sunk on its way to Puerto Rico.

According to COE director Colonel Manuel M?ndez Garc?a the rescue operation was launched immediately after the authorities received a 911 call, apparently from one of the shipwrecked passengers, who said that he could see some lights, but did not know exactly where they were.

M?ndez Garc?a said that the Armed Forces had sent out several helicopters to search the area, but that up till now neither the yola nor its passengers had been located.

A number of emergency rescue organizations are searching the area in the hope of finding the small craft.

.S. Coast Guard rescues 23 Dominican boatpeople, 1 dead, 3 missing

LA ROMANA.- United States Coast Guard Units the rescued 23 Dominican boatpeople who were drift for 3 days, when they attempted to travel illegally to Puerto Rico on a yola which sank 10 nautical miles southeast of Saona island, near the country?s east coast.

Preliminary reports said that 26 people took part in the failed crossing, which set sail last Thursday from the mouth of the Cumayasa river in La Romana province. A pregnant woman died when she was trapped beneath the yola when it capsized, while 2 others are missing