Castro arrives to take charge as ferry hijackers hold 50 hostages in Cuba

The Cuban government said it was preparing to use force last night to free 50 hostages on board a hijacked ferry being held by men armed with pistols and knives.

President Fidel Castro arrived at the port of Mariel to oversee the operation to free the hostages after the government announced on state television that the boat had not surrendered despite claims that the men had given themselves up.

The ferry was hijacked on Wednesday from Havana Bay and sailed north towards the United States. It later returned to Cuba in search of fuel after Cuban authorities chased it about 30 miles into international waters.

The government statement said: "Force will be used if the hostages' situation becomes critical. All morning long over the radio an effort has been made to persuade them to free their hostages. After repeated exhortations, they only agreed to turn over three; two women and a man with health problems. To all other requests they have responded only with their demands for fuel."

Yesterday the ferry could be seen docked inside the free trade zone at Mariel. The Cuban authorities blocked access to journalists, but several dozen officials, a fire engine and numerous government vehicles could be seen near the boat from a hill high above the bay.

When the ferry was still in the middle of the Florida Straits, FBI agents had waited near by on a US Coast Guard cutter as Cuban authorities tried to persuade the hijackers to give up. The men had threatened to throw some of the passengers overboard if they did not get their way.

As the ferry struggled through choppy seas, the hijackers contacted a command post of the Cuban Coast Guard by radio to demand another boat and enough fuel to reach the United States.

The seizing of the vessel came a day after a Cuban passenger flight was hijacked and flown to Key West, Florida, by a man who threatened to blow up the aircraft with two grenades that turned out to be fake. Two weeks earlier, hijackers diverted another Cuban aircraft to Key West.

The string of hijackings coincides with a new crackdown on dissent in Cuba and rising tensions with the United States. Trials began yesterday for the first of 80 dissidents on charges of conspiring with US officials.