Burned boat washes up on Florida beach with Cuban police uniform on board
Miami, Aug 21 (EFE).- The almost completely burned-out hulk of a small boat with a Cuban police uniform on it washed up on Sunday on Miami Beach, surprising beachgoers in the area.
Cuban journalist and filmmaker Manuel Zayas, who witnessed the arrival of the unoccupied and blackened skeleton of the boat on the beach, posted images of it on the social networks.
The boat had clearly suffered a significant fire, with its metal structure somewhat intact but almost everything flammable on board charred and ruined.
Zayas said that the boat – perhaps 30 feet in length – washed up in the city of North Miami Beach at about the level of 89th Street and Collins Ave., and on it were found several objects including shoes, the remains of some food and a National Revolutionary Police uniform.
The Cuban police uniform, which was almost complete, bore the number 39762 and was found along with a whistle.
Zayas said that no apparent human remains were found on the boat.
Bathers at the popular beach used their cellphones to videotape and take photos of the unusual find.
The boat’s arrival coincides with the news that a total of 27 Cuban rafters were taken into custody on the weekend by US authorities in the Florida Keys in the southermost portion of the state.
The 27 Cuban rafters arrived on Saturday on Key Largo and on the Marquesas Keys, the latter some 20 miles west of Key West.
The US Coast Guard also said that more than 200 Cuban rafters who had arrived on various boats and rafts during the past week along the Florida coast were repatriated to the communist island.
The Coast Guard cutters Robert Yered and Pablo Valents repatriated a total of 203 Cuban migrants after intercepting 14 boats and rafts between last Tuesday and Thursday off the Florida Keys.
Since Oct. 1, 2021, the US Coast Guard reportedly has intercepted 4,440 Cuban migrants along the Florida coasts.
EFE arm/jrh/bp
