Two aid boats bound for Cuba that were feared missing after they set sail from Mexico have been located and have "safely transited" to the island, the US Coast Guard has said.
"The US Coast Guard received a report at 10:36 am (local time) today that the two vessels safely transited to Cuba," public affairs specialist Anthony Randisi said in a statement, noting that the US Coast Guard was not involved in search efforts for the boats.
Mexico's navy said it had activated a search-and-rescue operation in the Caribbean to locate two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba after the vessels failed to arrive in Havana as scheduled.
In a statement, the navy said the two boats left Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board.
The vessels had been expected to arrive between 24 and 25 March, but there had been no communication from them and no confirmation of their arrival, the navy said.
The two boats were part of a broader grassroots aid effort for energy-strapped Cuba, which has been suffering prolonged power outages and a deepening economic crisis after the US tightened an embargo on oil and other goods.
A separate vessel from the convoy arrived in Havana on Tuesday.
Volunteers in Mexico last week loaded boats with rice, baby wipes, beans, baby formula, medicine and other supplies as part of the "Nuestra America Convoy," a non-government initiative seeking to deliver food, medicines and energy-related goods to the island.
Mexico had also established contact with maritime rescue coordination centres in Poland, France, Cuba and the United States, as well as diplomatic representatives of the countries of origin of those on board, the navy said.
