Hijackers arrested; ferry hostages freed

HAVANA -- Cuban security forces waiting in the waters of Mariel port rescued hostages jumping from a ferry boat as other troops stormed the vessel and arrested the captors, the government said Friday.

The nearly 50 hostages were uninjured, according to a government statement read on state television. The hijackers were taken by boat to an undisclosed location and their identities were not released.

"All of those who were on the boat were safely rescued without a shot or even a scratch," the government said.

The drama began Wednesday when a group of hijackers, armed with knives and pistols, commandeered the ferry Baragua in Havana Bay and demanded that it sail to the United States. Cuban authorities chased the boat some 30 miles into international waters, where FBI negotiators flew to a nearby U.S. Coast Guard cutter to offer help to the Cubans.

Apparently lacking enough fuel for the U.S. journey, the ferry then turned around and headed back to Cuban waters off Mariel.

The hijackers demanded fuel for the 45-foot, flat-bottomed ferry and threatened to harm passengers, the government said.

Negotiations began between the hijackers and squads of heavily armed men on a dock near the ferry. At one point, a hijacker held a knife to the throat of a woman on the ferry. Three ill hostages eventually were released.

The rescue operation began Thursday afternoon, the government communique said. International journalists near the scene of negotiations at the Mariel port west of Havana noticed a large military presence there at the time.

The government said a special forces soldier on the dock persuaded a female hostage to jump overboard and she was quickly rescued.

The special forces team then moved in to arrest the hijackers and secure the ferry as hostages took cues from the officers and started jumping overboard, the statement said.

Military divers rescued the jumping passengers while other troops took control of the vessel, the government said.

The hijackers also jumped overboard but they were captured by authorities.

The government warned earlier Thursday it would use force if necessary, but Friday's statement said "it was not necessary."

The government statement omitted many details, including how many suspects were arrested and how many hostages were freed.

The government previously said about 50 people were aboard the Baragua when it was hijacked.

There was no mention in Friday's statement of Castro, who traveled to Mariel on Thursday to lead the effort to end the standoff.

The vessel was seized a day after a Cuban passenger plane was hijacked to Key West, Fla., by a man who allegedly threatened to blow up the aircraft with two grenades. The grenades turned out to be fake.

Ten of the Cubans who were aboard the flight have opted to remain in the United States, while 19 others asked to go home to Cuba, U.S. officials said in Key West, Fla.

Another Cuban plane was hijacked to Key West less than two weeks earlier.

The hijackings coincided with a crackdown on dissidents in Cuba and rising tensions with the United States.

In the past, Cubans have taken advantage of periods of U.S.-Cuban friction to try to flee the island.

Several ferry boats were hijacked to the United States in 1994, when some 35,000 Cubans headed toward Florida in dilapidated boats and rafts. The wave of illegal migrants subsided only after the United States agreed to send back Cubans picked up at sea.

In a highly unusual move, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana, James Cason, warned Cubans on Wednesday night not to undertake any more hijackings, telling them in a message read on communist-run television they would be prosecuted and lose the right to seek American residency.