Nicaraguan Boat Sunk by Hondurans

MANAGUA, Nicaragua —  Three Honduran fighter jets bombed and sank a Nicaraguan coast guard boat off the Caribbean coast, killing an unspecified number of sailors and leaving one missing, the government said today.

A letter released by the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry said the attack occurred Thursday afternoon and came after the coast guard boat reported having chased a “pirate ship” out of Nicaraguan waters near the Honduran border.

The Honduran government confirmed that the boat was attacked, saying it sustained heavy damage. It said the boat was fired on after it violated Honduran waters.

The Foreign Ministry in Managua said an unspecified number of Sandinista sailors were killed, four were wounded and one was missing after the attack.

It said the coast guard boat was on routine patrol when it detected “a pirate boat off Edinburgh Key,” an island 10 miles southeast of Cape Gracias Adios, a peninsula that marks the northeastern border with Honduras.

The letter, which was sent by Foreign Minister Miguel D’Escoto to Honduran Foreign Minister Edgardo Paz Barnica, said the “pirate boat” then fled to Honduran waters.

It said the coast guard boat continued patrolling in Nicaraguan waters and was attacked by “three combat planes of the Honduran Air Force, who flagrantly violated national airspace.

“As a consequence of this criminal action, the Nicaraguan Dabur-type coast guard boat was sunk and some of its crew died, as well as four who were wounded and one missing.”