It was a run that was supposed to take two hours, but eight days later a couple of alleged smugglers and their human cargo were rescued in waters off Abaco Saturday, picked up by immigration and police officials and treated for dehydration.
The group had reportedly left Grand Bahama on a 26-foot speedboat named Monza in a bid for the U.S. and encountered engine problems.
According to police, Dentry Fox, 42, had been reported missing on Friday by his younger brother Damien Fox.
He told police at the Central Detective Unit that his brother was last seen on Saturday, August 5, 2006 around 2:30 p.m. when he left to go on a fishing trip with a friend he only knows as “Timer.”
The following day, around 9 a.m., the crew of the tanker, Eastern Power, found Fox at the wheel of the go-fast boat, along with Peter Russell, 45, drifting at sea off Abaco, some 44 miles off Sale Key, with Haitian and Jamaican nationals on board, according to police.
The speedboat had twin 200 horsepower Yamaha engines.
The nine male migrants ﾗ eight Haitians and one Jamaican ﾗ and six female migrants ﾗ four Haitians and two Jamaicans ﾗ were towed into waters closer to Abaco and finally brought in by officials late that evening.
Police say both Fox, of #119 Sunridge Road, and Russell, of #175 Columbus Drive, were arrested in Abaco for attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States from The Bahamas.
Senior Immigration Officer Jerome Hutcheson, III, at the Abaco District revealed that all 17 were suffering from dehydration and exhaustion and taken to the Marsh Harbour Government Clinic for examination.
He revealed that officials used two vessels to get to the group who were towed into Marsh Harbour, Abaco. They were quite cooperative and relieved to see officials.
The vessel was also impounded.
One of the two female Jamaicans was nine months pregnant and due to deliver on August 15. She and her mother, the eldest of the group, told of the treacherous eight-days at sea.
The Haitians paid $3,500 to make the trip to Florida and the Jamaicans $4,500.
It is not yet known how long the operation has been in the works, who the set-up man is or how long the migrants were in The Bahamas.
At least one of the migrants arrived from Haiti recently and they say they never dealt with the same person each time.
The group ranged in age from 19 to 57. They had no food or water and had even resorted to drinking salt water and using it to drench themselves and bathe.
They tried despondently to wave at passing boats every chance they got and, after several attempts, their prayers were finally answered.
It rained on the fifth day and, desperate for liquid, they resorted to sucking the water from off the sides of the boat.
One woman named Nata-lie said she was unable to drink the musty water because every time she tried she would bring it back up.
She suffered serious burns to her body. Her nose, forehead, eyebrows, arms and legs were red and peeled.
Four of the females, including the pregnant woman, her mother and Natalie, had to be kept in for observation as they were a little bit more serious than the others.
Police and immigration officials are continuing investigations into this alleged smuggling attempt.
The 15 migrants were transported to New Providence late Sunday and both Freeport men are expected to be charged today before a magistrate in Abaco.
By LEDEDRA MARCHE, Senior Freeport News Reporter and
LUZENA DUMERCY, Freeport News Abaco Correspondent
