Three Cuban-American members of Congress called for a full investigation Friday into the drowning of a woman and her young son 15 miles north of Havana, and family members in Miami complained about the Cuban government's treatment of the bodies.

The lawmakers also questioned Cuba's account, which they said suggests the island's coast guard ``led'' or ``escorted'' the boat of 10 people to international waters.

``The State Department cannot possibly assign any credibility to what the Cuban authorities are saying,'' said U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, who was joined in the demand by U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also a Miami Republican, and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

State Department officials said there was little they could do. They have already been refused access to two U.S. residents on the boat who were arrested for alien smuggling. They have been identified as Sabino Lopez, 26, and Luis Rodriguez, age unknown.

``We have no information to lead us to believe that there was anything untoward,'' said Charles Shapiro, director of the Cuban Affairs Desk.

The only information Cuban Affairs Desk has, he said, is a telex sent by Cuban authorities to the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami, which neither the State Department nor the Coast Guard would provide to The Herald.

`STRANGE WORDING'

But two sources -- a Coast Guard official and a staff member from Ros-Lehtinen's office -- have said the telex seems to suggest the Cuban officials accompanied the Florida-registered boat out of Cuban waters.

``The wording is very strange,'' said Rudy Fernandez, press secretary for Ros-Lehtinen. ``Since when does the Cuban government help people who want to leave?''

Ten people were aboard the 23-foot open vessel when it was spotted by a Cuban border patrol in Cuban territorial waters north of Havana, according to the telex, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jeff Murphy.

``It said they were escorted out of Cuban territorial seas,'' Murphy said. ``Cuban border patrol ended up going to the 12-mile limit.''

Then they saw the boat struggle with heavy seas and capsize, Murphy said. ``They went over and attempted to assist them, but two people were already dead.''

That's not the story told to relatives of Ernesto Rios, a journalist on Radio Caracol, WSUA 1260 AM in Miami. His sister Estrella Rios, 35, and nephew Alexis Ernesto Marquez were the two who died.

COINCIDENCE?

``They are telling the family members that they were in the water for several hours and that a border patrol passed by and saw them by coincidence,'' Rios said.

He was also upset by the way the Cuban authorities reportedly treated the remains of his relatives.

``State Security did not display the bodies. Only a cousin of ours who lives in Havana was permitted to see them for identification purposes. She told us they were mangled, almost unrecognizable,'' Rios said.

Nora Laya, a leading Sagua la Grande dissident, said state security agents walked into the Isabel de las Aguas funeral parlor in the north-central Cuban town about 4 p.m. and told about 30 mourners that the dead would forgo a funeral and be buried at a local cemetery as soon as they were brought from Havana.

``[They] sent everyone home . . . and the agents said that the bodies would not be released by Havana until early Saturday,'' said Laya, of the Human Rights Party.

El Nuevo staff writer Pablo Alfonso and the Associated Press contributed to this story.