Man found clinging to buoy after jumping from ship was seeking asylum in NYC, tugboat crew says

Man found clinging to buoy after jumping from ship was seeking asylum in NYC, tugboat crew says
Updated Jul 16, 2021; https://www.silive.com/crime-safety/2021/07/tugboat-crew-man-found-cling...

A man from Myanmar, Burma, was rescued by Moran Towing tugboat Kimberly Turecamo on a buoy in the Kill van Kull after he jumped from a ship and tried to swim to Staten Island on July 1, 2021. The man, seen in his photo covered in a towel standing on the deck with a crew member, said he was trying to seek asylum in the United States. (Courtesy of Gerard Dailey)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The man who was rescued from the waters of the Kill van Kull earlier this month was found clinging to a buoy after he jumped ship in a desperate bid for his freedom, according to the tugboat crew who saved him.

The man said he was from Burma (Myanmar) and was seeking political asylum in the United States to escape the dictatorship in his homeland, said Gerard Dailey, a crew member of the tugboat Kimberly Turecamo of Moran Towing Corp. Dailey said the man repeatedly pointed toward Staten Island, saying it was his destination.

“The image is seared in my my mind,” Dailey said, describing how the crew found the man July 1 on buoy No. 8 on the Bayonne side of the Kill van Kull opposite the Atlantic Salt Co. on Richmond Terrace.