By Teresa Aguayo
Associated Press Writer
Friday, December 18, 1998; 1:56 p.m. EST

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A boat carrying Cubans capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off Elliott Key. Six people were killed and the U.S. Coast Guard searched today for 11 others still missing.

A freighter rescued nine survivors who apparently clung to the hull of the overturned vessel for about 10 hours after the accident late Thursday, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Carr. They were being treated aboard that vessel, Carr said.

At least two children were among those rescued.

Carr said the capsized boat, which was carrying 26 refugees from Cuba, possibly was registered in Florida. ``With Florida registered numbers, it's possible it will turn into a smuggling case,'' he said.

The dead were retrieved from the water by a Coast Guard rescue boat.

Two Coast Guard helicopters and at least two cutters searched the waters about 30 miles southeast of Miami.

As of Dec. 2, 927 Cuban refugees had been rescued in the waters off South Florida this year. Those plucked from the water are routinely returned to Cuba, which is about 90 miles from Key West, the southernmost island in the Florida Keys.