Three Cubans dead, two missing from boat

MIAMI (Reuter) - Three Cubans died and two were missing at sea from a group of 14 trying to cross to Florida in a 20-foot sailing boat, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday.

The other nine were rescued by Coast Guard helicopters after pilots with the volunteer search group Brothers to the Rescue spotted them on Dog Rocks, a Bahamian island near the Cay Sal Bank.

The survivors suffered from cuts, dehydration and exposure, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Mark Woodring said. Some of them -- two women and four children -- were taken to a hospital in Marathon, Florida. The other survivors, three men, were still aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Dallas late Thursday.

The group told the Coast Guard they left Cuba in the sailboat for Florida 17 days ago. They became stranded on Dog Rocks, where a woman and two girls from the group died and were buried.

The survivors said the two missing men set out in a raft from Dog Rocks two days ago.

``Those two have not been seen since, so now we are searching for the two missing in the raft,'' Woodring said.

18:56 05-15-97