Romanian Seaman Jumps Ship, Dials 911
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NEW YORK — A Romanian seaman jumped ship in Brooklyn on Wednesday, called the 911 emergency number and told police he wanted to flee to the United States.
A source close to the case said the seaman was granted political asylum.
Engineer Virgil Anastasiu, 26, who left a wife behind in Romania, was expected to fly to California to stay with an uncle, said William Slattery, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Anastasiu left the Romanian freighter Bazias, which was tied up on the Brooklyn waterfront at 39th Street and lst Avenue, while shipmates were in the galley on a coffee break. He found a pay phone less than a mile away and called 911, police said.
“He had difficulty talking in English, but he got his idea across,” police spokesman Ed Kulesa said.
Officials at the Romanian Mission to the United Nations were unavailable for comment.
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