Four missing divers found; condition uncertain
The scenario brings to mind the tragic images of the movie “Open Water”…four SCUBA divers missing at sea since Saturday, presumably still bobbing somewhere on the deep blue sea outside the Barrier Reef. At news time there were reports of what may have been an aerial sighting some twenty miles east of Glover’s Reef, with boats dispatched to the area. Cameraman Brent Toombs and I have been following the story since early this morning.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
For the past two days an intensive search and rescue operation on and above the waters off southern Belize has been underway for four scuba divers missing since Saturday.
News Five understands that at approximately ten that morning, ten tourists left Placencia in ?Advance One?, a Belizean built twenty-eight foot single engine vessel heading for South Silk Caye, located some twenty miles east of the peninsula. About an hour and a half later the vessel arrived on the caye. Owner of Advance Diving, Vance Cabral, stayed on the island with six snorkellers while dive master Henry ?Bee Bee? Tucker left with four scuba divers for Gladden Spit.
Dr. Andrew Tenenbaum was one of the snorkellers who stayed behind.
Dr. Andrew Tenenbaum, Friend of Missing Diver
?The other guide and the four scuba divers had gone about three miles offshore while we were snorkelling. We came back to shore and our guide Vance was a bit concerned that their boat was not in the dive area and shortly after, about forty-five minutes later, the boat disappeared from view.?
With the help of binoculars, Cabral noticed that the boat appeared to be having engine problems and had started to drift in the strong westerly winds, heading out to the open sea.
We understand Tucker?s story is that he asked his passengers to stay on board, but they decided to leave their scuba gear on and attempt to swim toward Silk Caye…they never made it. The missing have been identified to us as American tourists twenty-eight year old Abigail Brinkman, thirty-eight year old Nancy Masters, fifty year old John Bain, and thirty-four year old Yutaka Mayeda, a visitor from Japan.
Tucker stayed on board, drifting more than twenty hours north, until he got within sight of Northeast Caye on the Glover?s Reef Atoll. Desperate, around midnight Sunday night, he jumped overboard, swimming approximately three miles to dry land.
Meanwhile, anxious to get help to his guests, around three in the afternoon, Vance Cabral swam the four miles to Little Water Caye to call the police. At five forty-five on Sunday morning, the B.D.F. Maritime Wing assumed control of the rescue effort.
Captain John Borland, C.O., BDF Maritime Wing
?If the persons in the water were picked up by the southern current, they could have drifted in a southerly direction and may be well out of the search area that we are focussing on at this moment.?
According to Captain John Borland, officer in charge of the operation, the search now includes personnel from the Guatemalan, Mexican, Honduran, and Belizean maritime forces, as well as civilian vessels from the peninsula. Rescuers cling to the hope that the missing four are still alive.
Captain John Borland
?Of them, we know that three of them had on wet suits and one was without a wetsuit, so he probably is the person we should be fearing for the most. They got in the water approximately three miles, and this is what the reports say, three miles east of Silk Cayes.?
?The prevailing wind at this stage is a south wind and at the time of the incident, it was a west wind. The sea conditions aren?t terrible, we are experiencing sea conditions between sea state four and five, which is good for conducting operations. One of the setbacks that we have is that the assets we are operating are sitting low in the water, which doesn?t give us much height to search beyond the horizon and that?s why we depend so heavily on the air assets.?
Major Ganney Dortch, Commanding Officer, B.D.F. Air Wing
?We have actually searched a hundred and fifty square miles and we have used so far, fourteen hours, looking for these people. That equates to approximately four missions, or four flights.?
?I think that with the level of experience of the divers that we are looking for, I still believe that there is a chance for us to find these people alive. If the boat captain has been able to make it to land and he claimed to be weaker swimmer and with less gear, I believe there is a good chance of us finding them alive.?
The Belize Meteorology Service had issued a small craft warning for coastal waters. On Saturday, that advisory spoke of twenty to thirty knot winds out of west, very rough seas, and there was a specific warning for all vessels to stay in safe harbour. According to Tenenbaum, while the journey was not uncomfortably rough, the engine had experienced trouble on the way to Silk Caye.
Andrew Tenenbaum
?It was choppy, and it was breezy.?
Brent Toombs
?Was yourself or anyone else aware that there was an advisory against being out in the water??
Andrew Tenenbaum
?No we were not aware of that.?
Police sources have just confirmed to News Five that all four divers have been recovered by boat following a sighting east of Glover?s Reef by a B.D.F. aircraft. What is not certain is the state of the divers, or even if all are alive. This is the second diving mishap to occur within the last year, involving Advanced Diving out of Placencia. On December twenty-ninth 2004, Cabral was captain of the same vessel when it overturned in rough seas near South Water Caye with ten divers on board. No one was seriously injured in that incident.
