Soldier’s belonging found in bush; no sign of him

As the sun set again today, search and rescue teams in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve continued their efforts to find missing Belize Defence Force Solider Sgt. Ramon Aguilar. Those efforts were fuelled by some excitement today as we understand that something Aguilar had in his possession at the time of his disappearance was found. While the B.D.F. would not confirm what that object is, it has given credence to the belief that the solider is on the move. But until Aguilar himself is found, his family continues to keep vigil … waiting for any word on their loved one. News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports.

Lorna Aguilar, Wife of missing soldier
?Maybe by going there I wah could see the area. And see that dah somewhere difficult fi mek the soldiers they di look that?s dah why they tek so long fi find ah.?

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
This afternoon a worried but determined Lorna Aguilar climbed into the B.D.F. Defender for a flyover of the Chiquibul Forest Reserve to look for her husband, Sgt. Ramon Aguilar, missing now for eight days.

Capt. Ravei Nunez, Pilot
?We decided to have Mrs. Aguilar accompany us on this particular search mission just to make her feel part of what the force is doing in order to locate her husband. Obviously she knows the efforts that we are putting, there are close to two hundred soldiers on the ground actively searching to locate her husband. But if she feels that she is a part of the search I am sure that it will help her to deal with the circumstances she is in right now. What we?ll do is take off from Philip Goldson International Airport, fly roughly south-west to the Rio Blanco area, which is marked on this map. The trip should take us about forty-five minutes and that?s about a distance of seventy nautical miles. The initial altitude will be two thousand five hundred feet and gradually increasing in altitude as we get over the mountainous terrain. The search, the furthest south we?ll go is just a couple kilometres south of Rio Blanco, the furthest north will be the Caracol area and of course we?ll avoid crossing into Guatemalan air space.?

Since his disappearance last Thursday, Sgt. Aguilar?s colleagues have been combing the land and air in thick jungles. Latest efforts include members of the forest department and two canine rescue teams from Cave?s Branch.

Kendra Griffith
?The search is general, how big an area in square kilometres or miles, how big an area is being searched??

Ravei Nunez
?From Rio Blanco, the Caracol ruins, the Guatemalan border and then east to the major roads and tracks, it is about fifteen kilometres square. So it is relatively a small area, but because of the terrain and how densely vegetative it is, it does take time to search that entire area either by air or ground troops.?

Aiding the pilots in their air search are two soldiers who scan the ground below for clues with powerful binoculars.

Ravei Nunez
?What we look at, not necessary look for are tracks and hopefully you may be able to see someone walking on those tracks or along the major streams or rivers in the area. You would also be able to see someone walking there, but in terms of just a general search, the area is too densely vegetative. So you have to pick our particular features you want to look at or clearings in the area that you will be able to see directly to the ground.?

Throughout the flight, Lorna Aguilar stares helplessly at the dense foliage below … but says she has no doubts that her loved one is alive.

Lorna Aguilar
?From inna my heart I know he still alive. I know he still alive and he still deh out deh cause he have to come home to his family, he wah come. Because he love his family, everything fi he dah fi he family, so come home he will come home.?

Ravei Nunez
?People are just concentrating on doing the search, doing their jobs. We?ve not had complaints of people being in the jungle too long or losing hope. We have not all been thinking of that we are just thinking about doing what needs to get done to find that missing sergeant.?

Kendra Griffith
?You all are fairly confident that he is there and he is alive??

Ravei Nunez
?We are confident. As to where exactly he will be found, that?s to be determined, but we are certain he is in the area that we are looking.?

As the relentless search to bring Sgt. Aguilar home continues, his family is doing the only thing they can ? hope.

Lorna Aguilar
?All weh we could do dah pray. Only God could help we inna this, nobody else can?t help we inna this. It hurts so bad, but we just have to hang in there. I have to hang in there for my two baby deh, but come home he will come home. They ask questions, like: mommy when. The lee bwai tell me, mommy I know daddy wah come home. The other say, mommy daddy wah come home fi my birthday because her birthday dah the twenty-eighth of October. So she just di wait pan dah day, because all we could do dah wait now.?

And while she waits, Aguilar is never far from a phone.

Lorna Aguilar
?I sleep with dah phone. One pan the pillow and the cell phone inna my hand, just waiting for that call to come because I know dah call will come.?

Kendra Griffith
?How do you feel when I rings??

Lorna Aguilar
?Whenever it rings I feel so happy, so good. But sometime soon I wah get good news.?

Kendra Griffith Reporting for News Five.