Now this is what I call reaching out and touching somebody!

Don't leave home without a fully charged cell phone!

911 Call Saves 67 Migrants Adrift at Sea, AP, 10 May 05

"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A migrant adrift at sea with 66 others on Tuesday called 911 and guided a U.S. helicopter to their boat, an official said.

The boat's engine failed as it was making an illegal voyage from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico and at least one of the migrants had a cellular phone, said Lt. j.g. Eric Willis, a Coast Guard spokesman.

A migrant dialed 911 and reported to police that they were adrift and didn't know where they were, Willis said. The emergency service was able to determine from signals given off by cell phone towers that the call came from the northwest corner of Puerto Rico, he said.

Police relayed the call to the Coast Guard, which dispatched a helicopter and two cutters, Willis said. The U.S. Caribbean territory's police department sent a helicopter and two boats and U.S. Customs joined the search with a plane, Willis said.

All this time, the migrant remained on the line with authorities and said he could hear a helicopter circling nearby but could not see it. When the helicopter sounded like it was moving away, the migrant told authorities and he was able to guide the chopper to the boat.

A Coast Guard helicopter eventually spotted the boat some 14 miles northwest of Aguadilla. The migrants — 66 Dominicans and one Haitian — were taken aboard an arriving cutter. They will be repatriated Wednesday, Willis said."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050511/...legal_migrants

__________________
Classic American liberal