A Bridge...Not Far Enough

The US Coast Guard rescues Cubans from a bridge, and returns them to Castro:

A group of Cubans who reached a partly collapsed bridge in the Florida Keys in a homemade boat were sent back after the authorities ruled that the bridge did not constitute US soil.

Under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans picked up on US territory are generally allowed to remain and apply for permanent residency. Those found at sea are repatriated.

When the 15 Cubans, including a two- and 13-year-old, made it from Matanzas to the Flagler bridge between Marathon and Pine Key after two days at sea, they thought they were home and dry.

They clambered out of their small boat, which then drifted away, and took refuge at the foot of one of the bridge supports, only 100ft from land.

The US coast guard found them and, after a legal review, determined the group was "feet wet" as the dilapidated bridge was no longer connected to any of the Florida Keys.

The Cubans were deported with 52 others picked up at sea.

But a woman who air-mailed it in, gets to stay:

A Cuban woman has won asylum in America by airmailing herself, a jug of water and a mobile phone to Miami from the Bahamas in a tiny wooden crate.

Astonished workers at a DHL warehouse at Miami airport opened the box on hearing noises from inside only for the unnamed stowaway to unfold herself and stretch after the ordeal.

The plywood crate, measuring 36in x 26in x 18in, had been dropped off at Nassau airport and spent only an hour in the air before landing in Miami.