Cuban refugees drown near Cancun

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CANCUN, Mexico, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Two people drowned and 11 were missing after a raft carrying 23 refugees from Cuba sank off the coast of Mexico, officials said.

Ten adult survivors -- nine men and one woman -- were arrested Friday in Isla de Mujeres, near Cancun, Mexico, after the ordeal, CNN reported.

The Yucatan Peninsula -- particularly the municipalities of Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Cozumel -- is a major landing point for refugees from Cuba, who then make their way to the U.S. border, officials said.

"It's a major receiving dock for things coming from the Caribbean," said Samuel Logan, founding director of Southern Pulse, an online information network focused on Latin America.

Mexican authorities did not say what the refugees' intended destination was.