Lehigh Acres family witnesses rescue of Cuban refugees during cruise

Lehigh Acres family witnesses rescue of Cuban refugees during cruise
10:13 PM, Jun. 10, 2012 |

A Lehigh Acres family at the tail end of a seven-day Caribbean cruise
witnessed a rescue at sea of five Cuban refugees on a small rubber raft.

Charlie and Erika Bonacolta; their children, Nicholas, 20, Vincent, 16,
Anthony 15 and Adriana, 14; and Nicholas' girlfriend, Taylor Grace, 18,
were sailing back to Port Everglades on Saturday after visiting Cozumel,
Mexico, on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas when a small raft was
spotted bobbing in the ocean.

"We were about 30 miles from Cuba," Mrs. Bonacolta said, when the
captain announced that a raft had been seen. "We slowed down and they
sent a lifeboat out to pick them up," she said.

In a tweet to The News-Press, Anthony Bonacolta said: "The captain said
there was a small craft close to the ship that needed our attention.
Everyone ran to look. There were 2 women and 3 men."

In an additional tweet, he added: "The captain sent a rescue boat (to)
get the Cubans. They were brought on board and were fed, given new
clothes and showered."

Anthony also took photos of the rescue and sent them to The News-Press.

"Their raft was a small, rubber-type raft," Mrs. Bonacolta said and
added that the captain later told passengers that the five refugees had
been at sea for three days and nights.

She said a U.S. Coast Guard plane came out first and then a Coast Guard
cutter stopped by the cruise ship and transferred the refugees over.

"They were laughing and blowing kisses to everyone" as they boarded the
cutter, she said.

The Coast Guard later marked the raft and placed it back in the ocean,
the Bonacoltas said.

Mrs. Bonacolta said the captain later spoke to the ship and told the
passengers how extraordinary the rescue was.

"We've been on a lot of cruises," she said. "And this has never happened
before. Even some of the Allure's staff was watching from the railing."

Another raft was spotted later, she said, but it was empty and the
captain told the passengers another ship had picked up additional refugees.

Mrs. Bonacolta said nobody on board could say if the five would be sent
back to Cuba.

However, Petty Officer Sabrina Elgammal at the Coast Guard station in
Miami said the five refugees were being questioned by U.S. immigration
officials and were likely to be sent back to Cuba.

"However, there are a bunch of things that could go into play," she
said, and the five could be sent to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo
Bay for further processing.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20120610/NEWS0103/120610014/1002/RSS01