69 Chinese Illegal Immigrants Taken Off Derelict Ship
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MEXICO CITY — A Mexican navy cutter intercepted a derelict vessel off the Baja California coast and rescued 69 Chinese illegal immigrants on board who were running out of food and water, authorities said Wednesday.
Mexican television showed naval officers on Tuesday leading the immigrants off the dilapidated vessel Lapas.
The U.S. Coast Guard alerted Mexican authorities to the ship, which had no registry and lacked a flag, and was drifting in the Pacific in the middle of the hurricane season.
The vessel had been at sea for two months and had been adrift for days after its engine failed.
The 69 Chinese on board, including women and small children, apparently were trying to get smuggled into the United States.
On Wednesday, they were flown out of Mexico, to be repatriated to China, in a passenger plane chartered by the U.S. government, the news release said.
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