Four days and still no sign of missing men…
It has been four days since seven men went missing while on a fishing trip at sea. And despite an intensive air and sea rescue effort, there has been no sign of them. The families of the men today revisited the area where the recovered vessel, the Ocean Hopper, was found near Gallows Point in an attempt to look for more clues in the mysterious disappearance. This evening B.D.F Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Reuel Black explained that because there are still no leads, they are implementing changes in the search strategy.
Lt. Col. Reuel Black, Chief of Staff, B.D.F.
“We have now though intensified our search even more. We got some canoes and some additional kayaks and the infantry, because we cannot walk on all the islands due to the mangrove and the water underneath the mangrove, there are lots of sloughs in between the mangrove which means that people could drift in there if that occurred, so we’ve put some more kayaks in there and tomorrow the British Army Training Support Unit has pledged to loan us some more of their kayaks from their Adventure Training Centre in St. George’s Caye, an additional ten of them, so we will be able to search more slowly in these areas. And we have to comb it like with a fine tooth comb to ensure that we cover every little nook or cranny in those islands. As far as the search goes by air, there have been some contributions to the family in terms of air searches, but for us what we had is only BATSUB. In terms of the surface search, well the Coast Guard and the civilian agencies are continuing their search around the area and further into the wider open seas, but when it comes to the B.D.F. we are combing the islands right around the incident area to see if probably they drifted and they are somewhere in the mangroves. I know that they told me they might have hit some rocks and there are rocks in the area where the boat was found. There are some shallow areas where things like that could have happened, I was told by the Coast Guard.”
Marion Ali
“So at this point, though you don’t want to speculate, it would not be prudent for us to say maybe they were taken off the boat by force and left abandoned there just floating in the water. … At this point you don’t suspect foul play is what I’m asking.”
Lt. Col. Reuel Black, Chief of Staff, B.D.F.
“No, and the police would have told us that themselves also if they had suspected that. But no we don’t suspect that, the B.D.F. don’t suspect that and that police have not given us any reason to follow a lead like that because a lead like that would entail other types of searches, but no, we have don’t have that. If there was an accident, the force of the accident could have thrown them overboard. I would like to be optimistic at all times because we are searching for life and that’s why we are intensifying the search because the window is closing for life to be found, but it’s not closed yet. And I would say that we do expect them, maybe not all of them, but most—depends on what injuries they had when they capsized or when the accident happened. If you had no injuries and you were in the mangrove you can survive for the long period of time. But if you have injuries, you are bleeding or you are hurt or things like that, then the time lessens.”
If you wish to help in the search, cash can be deposited at Atlantic Bank account number 210-832-802. For in kind contributions, please call 205-2653.
