SANTO DOMINGO, (Reuters):

Twenty-three people were missing at sea yesterday after their fishing boat capsized off the Dominican Republic, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said 16 of those aboard the vessel called the Abracadabra were plucked to safety after it sank about 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 20 miles (32 km) out from the town of Montecristi on the Dominican border with Haiti.

But the Coast Guard, Dominican navy rescue crews and a fleet of fishing boats were still searching for 23 of the 39 people who were aboard the vessel when it went down.

Area searched

The U.S. Coast Guard said its rescue crews, backed by helicopters and jets, had searched an area covering more than 2,380 nautical square miles by 11:00 a.m. yesterday.

The doomed fishing vessel, which Dominican officials described as 65-feet (20-metre) long, set out about 5:00 p.m. on Monday from the northern Dominican resort of Puerto Plata.