Seventeen out of 70 people who left illegally on a boat from Sosua, trying to reach Puerto Rico, disembarked at Cabeza de Toro, and returned home, whereas the remaining 53 travelers who allegedly tried to return via Nagua are lost at sea. Diario Libre reports that the Governor of Maria Trinidad Sanchez province, Jose Cosme, said that one of the travelers, Jose de la Cruz, had spoken to him by telephone indicating that bad weather was forcing the boat’s crew to stop in Cabeza de Toro, where some of the passengers decided to stay.
According to Listin Diario, the total of missing persons is 56 and they left for Puerto Rico nine days ago in the midst of bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean. Authorities are searching by air, land and sea until they find the boat and the travelers. The group left on Sunday, 9 October 2005 from Playa La Ermita in Gaspar Hernandez and later went to Nagua to collect fuel. On Wednesday last week they landed in Cabeza de Toro, La Altagracia, when one of the passengers, who is three-months pregnant, started bleeding and her husband convinced the crew to make the stop. The boat was carrying people from La Vega, San Francisco de Macoris, Constanza, Moca, Boba, Puerto Rico a Pie, and Baoba del Pinal.