Five Tugboat Sailors to be Charged Upon Recovery from COVID-19

Chester Williams

The full force of the law is coming down on five sailors who tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return to Belize from Roatan, Honduras. The men will face criminal charges following their recovery.  They were onboard a tugboat that left from the port at Big Creek for the Bay Islands to service a barge.  Despite receiving clearances from relevant agencies, including the Belize Port Authority, the Immigration Department, as well as the Customs and Excise Department, the seamen will be charged for breach of the Quarantine Act since they failed to remain in isolation onboard the vessel after having taken the required tests. The matter has been in the news since Friday when it was learnt that they had discontinued quarantine and had headed home. According to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, charges will also be contemplated against the respective officers who permitted the tugboat to leave the jurisdiction, despite an existing prohibition on international travel.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We did in fact receive a complaint of a tugboat that may have left Big Creek port and had gone to Roatan, Honduras.  From our understanding, based on what we have gathered through an investigation whereas you would know that I directed Major Crimes from Belmopan to launch an investigation into the matter and that investigation has revealed so far that the tugboat did go to Roatan, Honduras to take a barge for repair.  Now while yes, the tugboat may have received clearance from the port authority, immigration, customs and health, the question is whether or not the permission that they received was within the scope of the authority of these different government agencies.  As you would know, we had the SI which was enforced then, which is not the SI 119 we have now, this was the SI signed by the minister which deals with, and I mean the Minister of Health, which deals with the fact that the border remains closed, save and except for cargo.  Taking a barge to repair is not engaging in cargo trade and so that would have been something outside the scope.  In other words, the immigration, port authority, health and customs, when they gave that authority they acted ultra vires.  And so, based on that we are contemplating charges against persons who may have granted those permissions and secondly, we’re also looking at the individuals themselves.”