4 Cuban migrants come ashore in Broward

Four Cuban migrants came ashore in a small wooden sailboat early Tuesday morning in Hallandale Beach.

The men —ages 62, 27, 27, 22 — were at sea for about one week.

They were greeted on the beach by Dmytro Donets, who saw they needed help from his nearby condo.

Donets, who came from Ukraine with his parents several years ago, called the police at the men’s request. He told reporters on the scene that one of the men was a teacher in Cuba named Michael.

The men gave Donets their good luck charm, a blank dog tag and chain.

“I hope they’re all right,” Donets said. “It’s good when new people are coming to America to work.”

Another witness said the men said they left Cuba last week but got lost and didn’t know if they would survive, according CBS4.

Other witnesses said they are impressed by the migrants’ risky journey.

“So risky and you could lose your life and these people are brave. I respect that,” Hector Dominguez told CBS4.

The four men were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood for observation.

The U.S. Border Patrol and Broward sheriff’s investigators responded about 1 a.m. to the call at 2000 block of South Ocean Drive.

If custom agents confirm the men are Cuban, they will be allowed to stay because they made it to land under the U.S. current “wet foot, dry foot” policy.

Correspondent Jim Donnelly contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 16, 2015 at 8:18 AM with the headline "4 Cuban migrants come ashore in Broward."