Catamaran hits reef

A catamaran en route to San Pedro early yesterday morning from Houston hit the reef north of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. An immediate assessment was done by Manager of Hol Chan Marine Reserve Miguel Alamilla and Manager of Bacalar Chico Dylan Gomez in which five crew members from the boat “Heart to Heart” were interviewed including Captain Frank Eckles who was steering the vessel at the time of the incident. According to Miguel Alamilla, the boat was on auto-pilot but experienced a very strong current. The crew says they put up the vessel’s sails and started the engine when they noticed they were very close to the reef but it was already too late. Alamilla says that their assessment has been sent to the Fisheries Department for a review. He says that the boat is still on the reef and the Port Authority is presently conducting its own examination to calculate damage caused to the reef. No one was injured in the incident.