FBI: Cuban boat hijacked, drifting off Key West

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- A Cuban boat was hijacked Wednesday morning and was drifting in international waters about 100 kilometers (60 miles) off Key West, Florida, the FBI said. It was the second hijacking from Cuba in as many days.

FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the Cuban government has told the agency that the craft is a 45-foot (13.5-meter) pleasure boat with 15 to 20 people on board. The FBI is sending hostage negotiators to the scene by helicopter, she said. Further details were not immediately available.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Miami and the Cuban government in Havana both declined immediate comment.

The hijacking comes a day after a Cuban airliner was hijacked from the communist-ruled island to Key West, in Florida, by a man carrying fake hand grenades. Last month, a group of six men hijacked another Cuban airliner to Key West, authorities say.

Story Tools		Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time!

U.S.: Mass surrender of Iraqi troops • Diplomats withdrawn amid virus fears • Afghanistan bombing intensifies • Iraqi 'hero' helped save POW

Saddam on Iraqi TV; U.S.: Airport secured • Car bomb kills three coalition troops • Possible Saddam on TV: 'Hit them hard' • Iraqi info minister vows 'martyrdom operations'