Still No Sign of the Body of Luke Hansen

Up to news time tonight, the body of Luke Hansen has still not been recovered. The eight-year-old boy went swimming with his brother and cousin on Wednesday afternoon in the river at Roaring Creek when he was taken under water by the strong current. Since then, there have been multiple searches by relatives and friends, as well as personnel from the Belize Coast Guard and Belize Search and Rescue Team. Today, the search continued and News Five has confirmed with Chief Petty Officer Tyrone Edwards that the body has not surfaced as yet, but the search will continue on Saturday. The plan of action was discussed on Thursday.

Chief Petty Officer Tyrone, 2IC Diving, Belize Coast Guard

Chief Petty Officer Tyrone

“It has passed over twenty-four hours, the body won’t be exactly where it drowned; it is a small person and it will move faster than a big adult in the river. So we expect the body to be more downstream and that’s where our focus is. Earlier this morning, we had the BSART divers diving from Banana Bank coming up and we going from here going down to meet them, however, we came up with nothing. But our mission is to stop until the body is found. By this time the weather is warming up and stuff, so hopefully, the body floats up.”

Duane Moody

“Are there submerged tree trunks that are of concern?””

Chief Petty Officer Tyrone

“Yes the family has pointed out couple areas to us where they want us to check. So because the river is not too deep, we will not need any diving gears. So we will just come with snorkel and fins and diving glass and stuff so that if needs be, we could jump in and snorkel the area and check. So that’s what we are doing along with the family members and BSART, working together as one to try to recover this body.”