NATION : U.S. Denies Stowaway Asylum
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Vietnamese who escaped from his homeland by lashing himself to the rudder housing of a Polish tanker for two days in monsoon seas today was denied asylum in the United States, a senator said.
The request for immediate asylum was rejected by the State Department, but the Immigration and Naturalization Service will allow the stowaway to stay in the country while it reviews the request, said Bill Bryant, a spokesman for Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.).
The Polish captain of the tanker took up the cause of the 23-year-old man, discovered during a routine lifeboat drill two days out of Ho Chi Minh City. But in two months of sailing, five nations--Singapore, Bahrain, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia--also denied him asylum.
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