ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 7, 1993                   TAG: 9306070018
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

7 DIE TRYING TO SNEAK INTO U.S.

Hundreds of illegal Chinese immigrants - some wearing business suits, some in their underwear - jumped into the chilly Atlantic before dawn Sunday when a smuggling ship ran aground on a New York City beach.

At least seven people died, including four who drowned, authorities said. About 30 others were taken to hospitals, most for treatment of exposure or hypothermia.

More than 200 people fled the ship and about 100 others were taken ashore from the freighter. Officials were looking for about 25 people believed still at large.

"It looked almost like the movie about the invasion of Normandy," said police Detective Ming Li, who arrived shortly after the 150-foot freighter Golden Venture ran aground at 2 a.m.

Some swam and waded to shore clutching plastic bags of belongings. Others rode the surf in, using plastic jugs as makeshift floats. Many had to be fished out of 53-degree ocean waters off Rockaway peninsula in Queens.

Medical workers reported treating 328 people at the scene.

Capt. Charles Wells of Emergency Medical Services said eight people died - the four who drowned, two who died at the scene and two who died at a hospital. But Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Don Ingham said he could confirm only seven deaths.

Most of the immigrants were young men; about 20 were women.

The freighter hit a sandbar about 200 yards off a seaside park, near a Coast Guard station. Most aboard were from China's Fujian province and had been at sea about 100 days, said William Slattery, director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York.

A 27-year-old immigrant from the Fujian province who came to the United States seeking work said the boat had been at sea for more than three months. 


 by CNB