U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Haitian Refugees Near The Bahamas
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, WORLD NEWS: The United States Coast Guard has launched a rescue operation in the Bahamas after a boat carrying refugees ran aground on Wednesday. Most of the roughly 300 people onboard are believed to be Haitian. Dozens of survivors have been lifted to safety. And joining us now is Commander Rick Hatton from the U.S. Coast Guard with the latest on this. Commander Hatton, can you confirm the nationality of the people onboard?</s>CMDR. RICK HATTON, U.S. COAST GUARD: What we can confirm is that there were approximately 290 individuals on the vessel. The indication that we have on scene is that approximately 289 are determined to be Haitian or Haitian extraction, and there was one who was a Cuban apparently, or claimed to be a Cuban.</s>MCEDWARDS: And what condition are they in now? What's the status of the operation?</s>HATTON: Basically, the status is pretty much concluded. This afternoon, two Coast Guard cutters - Coast Guard cutter Faralon (ph) and Coast Guard cutter Mandatu (ph) - arrived on scene and immediately put personnel ashore to start tending to the survivors. In the process of that, we had numerous Coast Guard helicopter flights in and out of the island, Medevac-ing - medical evacuating approximately 65 people to hospitals in the Bahamas. Most of them went up to the Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau, and a number of them were Medevac-ed to the hospital in Great Exuma island here in the southeastern Bahamas.</s>MCEDWARDS: And do you have.</s>HATTON: Of the remainder, the - a Royal Bahamian Defense Force vessel and HMDS Bahamas has removed the remainder of the survivors from the beach as of approximately 8:30 this evening and has proceeded or is proceeding en route to Port Au Prince, Haiti, with those survivors - total number of 223.</s>MCEDWARDS: So how many people have been confirmed killed?</s>HATTON: What we have is a total of two confirmed individuals that have been determined to be deceased. There was a Bahamian doctor that was airlifted in during the afternoon today and pronounced two individuals dead on the scene. Those individuals, the Bahamas, the government of the Bahamas has buried those two individuals on the island.</s>MCEDWARDS: All right, Commander Hatton, thanks very much for that update. Commander Hatton is with the U.S. Coast Guard. END TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com