Passenger ferry hijacked in Cuba, US sends negotiators

MIAMI (AFP) - US negotiators headed toward a Cuban ferry drifting in international waters after a group of people seized the boat in Havana forcing the crew to head toward Florida, officials said.

"We will send negotiators, they are on their way," said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orijuela said in Miami, adding that the boat was drifting in international waters in the Florida Straits between Cuba and the United States.

The father of one of the crew members said the boat was seized around 1:00 am (0500 GMT) as it was ferrying passengers between various neighborhoods along the Havana bay.

"Fifteen or 16 people boarded the boat and forced the crew to head to the open seas," Gilberto Vargas, he told AFP.

"Most likely they asked to go to Miami," 350 kilometers (220 miles) away, he said, speaking at the docks, before he was escorted to a police car.

On Tuesday, a man saying he was carrying two hand grenades forced a Cuban airliner to take him to Florida.

The alleged hijacker was arrested after the Soviet-made Antonov-24 landed in Key West, Florida, with 31 passengers and crew aboard.

The plane, which initially had 46 people on board, was on a short domestic flight from the Isle of Youth to Havana late Monday when the hijacker ordered the crew to head to Miami.

The Cubana de Aviacion plane spent about 12 tense hours on the tarmac in Havana, where a group of passengers jumped out a rear window after the ageing aircraft was refueled Tuesday morning

Another Cuban airliner with 33 people aboard was hijacked to Florida on March 19.

Eleven of the passengers sought political asylum in the United States; the rest returned to Cuba.

A US judge later ruled that the six hijackers could be released on a 25,000 dollar bond pending trial, but the decision is being appealed.

Cuba has been staunchly critical of the US policy of granting asylum and US residence to any Cuban who manages to set foot on US soil -- such as the 11 passengers on the March 19 flight. Those intercepted on the high seas are returned to the communist-ruled island.

Hijacked Ferry Boat Returns to Cuba *** An FBI spokeswoman in Miami said that agency negotiators flown by helicopter to the scene of the ferry standoff were standing by on the Coast Guard cutter while Cuban authorities dealt with the situation. The ferry was drifting in international waters about 60 miles off Key West, she said. Fidel Castro's government said it would handle the crisis in the Florida Straits. The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that Cuba had taken the lead role but said it was ready to assist. "What we won't do in any case is to use measures of force that put in danger the lives of the people aboard this boat," the Cuban statement said. It said 50 passengers were on board.

The cooperation between agencies from both countries underscored the worries both American and Cuban officials have about the recent rash of hijackings. In a highly unusual move, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana on Wednesday night warned Cubans not to undertake any more hijackings, telling them in a message read on communist-run television that they would be prosecuted and lose the right to seek American residency. The message by James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, demonstrated growing worries about the possibility that such hijackings could end in violence or spark a migration crisis. ***

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