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The sinking of the tugboat 13 de Marzo was an incident on July 13, 1994, when 72 Cubans attempted to leave the island of Cuba on a stolen tugboat, to seek asylum in the United States. 41 passengers were drowned at sea when the tugboat sank. It was alleged that the Cuban coast guard deliberately sank the commandeered vessel and then refused to rescue some of the passengers. The Cuban government stated that the boat was sunk by accident.
On July 13, 1994, at approximately three in the morning, seventy-two men, women, and children commandeered the tugboat 13 de Marzo ("13th of March"), intending to seek asylum in the United States. [1] [2] With all vessels in Cuba owned by the state, it would have been illegal to acquire such a boat. [3]
Cuba Archive, a Washington DC-registered and Miami-based organization which promotes human rights in Cuba, has alleged that the Cuban coast guard deliberately sank the commandeered vessel and then refused to rescue some of the passengers. [3] According to survivor María Victoria García, whose ten-year-old son, husband, and other close family members died, but who eventually resettled in the United States in 1999, the government vessels refused to provide assistance to some of the distressed passengers. As a result, only 31 survivors were pulled from the water. [3] She said:
After nearly an hour of battling in the open sea, the boat circled round the survivors, creating a whirlpool so that we would drown. Many disappeared into the seas... We asked them to save us, but they just laughed, they then told us to jam random objects up our noses. [3]
For their part, the Cuban government denied responsibility, and stated that the boat was sunk by accident. [1]
Amnesty International said the following with regard to the involvement of the Cuban Government "there is sufficient evidence to indicate that it was an official operation and that, if events occurred in the way described by several of the survivors, those who died as a result of the incident were victims of extrajudicial execution." [4]
International leaders, including Pope John Paul II, made statements about the incident and expressed condolences to the victims. [3]
Goya was a Norwegian motor freighter used as a troop transport by Nazi Germany and sunk with a massive loss of life near the end of World War II.
SIEV X was the name assigned by Australian authorities to an Indonesian fishing boat carrying over 400 asylum seekers en route to Australia, which capsized in international waters with great loss of life on 19 October 2001. SIEV stands for Suspected Irregular Entry Vessel and is the acronym used by the surveillance authority for any boat that has entered Australian waters without prior authorisation. The X is a designation used where a tracking number has not yet been assigned, in accordance with Australian Government orders.
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On 15 December 2010, an Indonesian fishing boat carrying 89 asylum seekers and 3 crew members sank after being dashed against the rocks near Rocky Point, Christmas Island, an external Australian territory. 50 people died and 42 were rescued. The incident was the worst civilian maritime disaster in Australia in more than a century.
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On 14 June 2023, an Italy-bound fishing trawler smuggling migrants sank in international waters in the part of the Mediterranean known as the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, Greece. The boat, named Adriana, which had a capacity of 400 people, carried an estimated 400 to 750 migrants, mostly from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and some from Afghanistan. After departing from Tobruk, Libya, on 10 June, concerns were raised by 13 June, with the vessel then located in the Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) zone assigned to Greece. The Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) helicopter and later the HCG vessel ΠΠΛΣ-920 arrived on scene, took aerial photos of the vessel, made offers of assistance that were allegedly refused, then remained there as an observer until the boat capsized and sank. After the Adriana had sunk "close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea", the HCG and the military initiated a massive search and rescue operation. One hundred and four men were rescued, and 82 bodies were recovered. By 18 June, officials had acknowledged that over 500 people were "presumed dead."
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