A group of Cubans hijacked a Havana ferry boat this morning morning and sailed out into the Florida Straits toward the United States, the father of one of the ferry's crew members said.
Mr Gilberto Borges said he had been told that the ferry, a government-run passenger vessel that crosses from Havana to suburbs across the bay, was hijacked at 1.30 a.m. (7.30 a.m. Irish time).
"I was told that there are 15 hijackers and 14 passengers on the ferry," Mr Borges said. His son, Mr Rodolfo Borges, is the second mate on the ferry.
Cuban government officials would not comment on the incident. The boat hijacking came just a day after a Cuban man hijacked a Cuban airliner on a domestic flight and forced it to fly from the communist-run island to Key West, Florida.