Four federal agents were hurt when two boats crashed during a chase of suspected smugglers trying to bring 14 Cubans to Florida.

Four federal agents were injured Monday after two U.S. Customs and Border Protection vessels collided at high speed off the Keys in a pitch dark chase of suspected smugglers in a fast boat attempting to bring 14 Cubans to Florida. Two agents remained in the hospital.
One agent suffered head trauma and underwent brain surgery Monday afternoon at Jackson Memorial Hospital. "The surgery went great," John Beutlich, director of the Miami Air and Marine-branch of the Customs and Border Protection, said Monday evening. "Doctors say he'll probably only be in the hospital about seven days."
That agent also is recovering from a collarbone injury and some lacerations on his neck that required stitches.
Another agent was kept at the hospital Monday for treatment and observation of three cracked ribs, a bruised lung and a cracked thoracic vertabrae.
The other two agents also were taken to Jackson, where they were treated for bruises and released.
Customs spokswoman Jennifer Connors said the names of the four agents, all men, would not be released Monday.
After the collision, which occurred in darkness, the chase continued for nearly five hours. It ended when the suspected smuggling boat came to a stop about two miles east of Government Cut in Miami.
Officials did not release how the go-fast boat was stopped. But on board were 14 Cuban migrants and two suspected smugglers.
All were taken into custody and transported to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter at sea, where they are being held and interviewed as part of the investigation run in combination with Customs and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson said.
Under the government's wet foot/dry foot policy Cubans intercepted at sea are generally returned to the communist island while those who make it to land usually are allowed to stay. The two suspected of smuggling may be brought to Florida and charged with the federal crime of alien smuggling.
The chase began when a Customs plane spotted the suspected smugglers' boat, which did not have its lights turned on, in the Atlantic Ocean east of Marathon. Originally, the Coast Guard also dispatched small boats from Islamorada and Marathon, Johnson said.
Not long into the chase, the collision occurred between the two 39-foot Midnight Express boats - which began the night on routine patrol.
"They were going fast, at a good clip," Connors said.
Four agents were on each boat. The accident caused at least some of them to be thrown in the water. Four of the men were not injured.
"It's hard to say why this happened," Beutlich said. "Until the investigation is completed, it appears to be an unfortunate accident."
The Coast Guard sent two helicopters, one from Miami, and the other from the Bahamas, to rescue the injured agents.
The chopper from Miami hoisted two of the agents; the one from the Bahamas airlifted a third. Johnson said she is not sure how the fourth agent got to the hospital.
"While all this went down to rescue the guys, the chase kept going with the [migrant] boat," Connors said.
The pursuit included the Customs plane, a Customs Blackhawk helicopter, another Customs boat, the Coast Guard and eventually the Miami Beach Police Department. It ended about 5 a.m. Officials said they did not think anybody aboard the migrants' boat was injured.
Beutlich said a collision betwenn two law enforcement vessels is rare: "But it outlines how dangerous the job is - not just for officers, but smugglers who are out there."
Connors added: "It becomes even more dangerous when smugglers try to take advantage of the darkness, running with no lights, to make our agents' mission even more dangerous."

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The sick part about this is that the Cubans will most likely be able to stay here anyways. Some Cuban here in Miami who went on a hunger strike to allow the group of Cubans who made it to a partially blown up bridge which is not considered land, to be able to stay. When the Coast Guard shot out the engines in a chase where one woman died, this guy threatened to go on a hunger strike and politicians allowed the Cubans to stay even though they never made land in return for their testimony against the smugglers. Not one of them testified in court and were not deported for it. I think history will repeat itself once again.