“They didn’t have paddles,” said passenger Cintia Zingoni, who filmed the video. “It wasn’t really a boat. It was a piece of furniture, maybe a cabinet, and they made it like a boat.”
Zingoni, a real estate agent from Orlando, Florida, was on the boat with her family and friends when they witnessed the incident.
Her video shows what appears to be a small piece of cloth that the migrants used as a sail and styrofoam attached to the sides of their boat for flotation. Zingoni also said it appeared the migrants were using a pot lid to drive.
According to Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Matt Lupoli, the migrants were welcomed aboard the ship where they received a medical check-up, food and clothing. When the boat reached Cozumel, they were handed over to Mexican officials, he said.
According to Zingon, the ship’s captain informed passengers that the migrants were dehydrated but otherwise fine.
“I felt sad. Everyone on the boat was dancing and having fun and dying,” Zingoni said. “It was almost a suicide mission to get inside that piece of wood.”
Fellow passenger Lee Smith said the weather that evening took a turn for the worse.
Cubans who reach the United States and seek asylum are usually able to gain permanent residency under a special status granted by the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1962. Cubans apprehended at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard are usually returned to island.
According to US Customs and Border Protection, more than 175,000 Cubans have arrived in the US from Mexico since July of last year. In the same period, more than 4,500 Cubans caught at sea have returned to Cuba, the Coast Guard said in a statement on Tuesday.
