HAVANA – Cuban state news media say that a single vessel carrying 842 Haitians who apparently were trying to reach the United States has landed instead in central Cuba.
It appears to be the largest group yet in a swelling exodus of people from crisis-stricken Haiti. The U.S. Coast Guard and other nations have reported intercepting boats carrying well over 100 Haitians in recent months.
The Communist Party newspaper Granma said Red Cross officials in the province of Villa Clara said the 842 Haitians had been given medical attention and were being housed at a tourist campground. The new group that arrived Tuesday at Villa Blanca, about 180 miles east of Havana.