Dominican, Haitian boatpeople shipwreck; pregnant woman saved, 23 missing

Higuey, Dominican Republic.- A woman three-months pregnant is among the survivors of a shipwreck in the Mona Passage Thurs., when a group of Dominicans and Haitians tried to reach Puerto Rico illegally, with 23 missing, according to a source in the Dominican Navy.

Some of the survivors told Navy officers and Civil Defense officials that they paid unidentified organizers US$1,000 each to travel to Puerto Rico.

Navy boats look for more survivors and try to recover bodies since dawn Thurs. in the area of Isla Mona, site of a steady flow of undocumented Haitian and Dominican boatpeople looking to reach US territory.