Rescue planes dropped two six-packs of spring water, food and a radio Saturday on a tiny Bahamian island that held 15 to 20 stranded Cuban rafters, a pilot said.

Scratchy radio conversations indicated they had been stuck for three days, said Guillermo Lares, chief pilot for Brothers to the Rescue.

``It looked like they were very happy,'' said Lares, whose Cessna passed over the island at about 500 feet. ``They started jumping around, waving. We started screaming and shouting in the cockpit. We have lost many people in the Florida Straits.''

The men, women and children were discovered about 11:45 a.m. on an island in the Cay Sal Banks, about 30 miles north of Cuba and 100 miles south of South Florida. They were found during a routine patrol by Brothers, which searches for rafters escaping from Cuba.

Lares said the people indicated they'd come from Caibarien, a city on Cuba's north shore. Their boat was nowhere to be seen around the island, which is little more than sand and palm trees.

``It could have been a shipwreck or it drifted away,'' said Lares. ``We don't know what happened.''

The U.S. Coast Guard sent a jet over the island to confirm the sighting, then dispatched a 101-foot cutter about 5 p.m. The Monhegan, expected to be slowed by rough seas, was expected to reach the rafters by midnight Saturday. Crew members won't go onto the island until this morning.

The attempted escape was the second from Caibarien in recent weeks. On Dec. 19, a wooden boat carrying 18 Cuban refugees, some who said they were from Caibarien, landed on a resort beach in in Key Biscayne. That trip took five days, refugees said, a journey marked by bad weather, seasickness and mechanical delays.

While the first group of rafters was expected to get permission to stay in the U.S. because they reached U.S. shores, those spotted Saturday would have cloudier prospects.

``The Bahamian government has asked for our assistance,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer H.A. Twist. ``We'll take them to Freeport, or possibly to Bimini. From there, the Bahamian government makes the call.''

Saturday's events began about 10:15 a.m., when a pair of Brothers planes took off from Opa-locka Airport.

After seeing the rafters about 90 minutes into the flight, the planes circled the island. One crew dropped the water, food and a radio cushioned by a Brothers to the Rescue T-shirt and bubble wrap.

Lares said the planes returned after Coast Guard aircraft arrived.

``It was hard to establish a full conversation with them,'' Lares said. ``It's very loud in the airplane, and you're flying by at 120 mph. They didn't say they were in an emergency mode.''