Seven persons, including the crew of the Nina II, made it by rowing to Tortuga Island in Haiti, after their ship caught on fire. The Nina II had been delivering fresh supplies to the Grand Turks Island north of Puerto Plata for 20 years. The cargo barge had left on Wednesday, 9 August and was missing. Those on board saved their lives by boarding a small life boat and rowing to Tortuga Island. From there, a boat of the Haitian Navy transported them to Port du Paix on 21 August from where they were able to call their relatives in the DR. The boat had just been repaired after suffering a previous explosion. It took them four days too row to Tortuga Island. The seven on board were Nelson Herrera González, his son Juan Luis González, his grandson Manuel Alberto Núñez, Angel Luis Vargas, Santiago Francisco Santana, Navy sergeant Adrián Fernández and Alberto Almonte Núñez. Their absence was noticed on Thursday, 10 August, when the owners of the cargo called Puerto Plata to find out the case for the supposed delay. The survivors reportedly were returning to the DR by way of the frontier town of Dajabón today.
