No progress in search for boat crash victim

Searchers continue to comb the banks and bays of Placencia Lagoon in an effort to find Clifford Atherley. Atherley and his son were among six people thrown out of a skiff Saturday night following its collision with another vessel. Four people were rescued, but the body of Atherley’s five-year-old son, Nigel, was discovered yesterday afternoon floating in the lagoon not far from the crash site. Any hopes of finding Clifford alive in the shallow body of water have largely faded and what began as a rescue operation has gradually become a search for a corpse. The owner of the boat that collided with Atherley’s skiff, Marcus McKenzie, has been detained by police in Independence Village, but sources indicate to News Five that McKenzie is claiming that he was not aboard the vessel that night. He has yet to explain who was. Meanwhile, Clifford Atherley’s wife and other family members arrived in Placencia last night from Florida. The Atherleys are Belizeans who reside in the U.S.A., but visit relatives here each year.