Reward offered for information on missing lighthouse keeper

The Belize Port Authority is offering a reward of five thousand dollars for any information which will help in locating Charles Garbutt and his family who disappeared at sea two weeks ago. Garbutt is a lighthouse keeper at English Caye and has been an employee of the Port Authority for over nine years. He and his wife Kim and their three small children left Belize City in their skiff loaded with provisions on the morning of December sixteenth. Several days later police detained two men from Bluefield Range who reportedly found the skiff and its engine in the channel abandoned. The men claimed the boat was partially submerged when they found it and there was no sign of the Garbutts or their supplies. The men, who had taken possession of Garbutt’s skiff and engine were charged with theft and handling stolen goods and have been released on bail. Charles Garbutt’s father and brothers, as well as the B.D.F. Maritime Wing and police have been conducting searches of the area every day since the disappearance, but the harbor master for the Belize Port Authority tells News Five there have been no leads so far and they are appealing to the public for assistance.