Authorities have been unsuccessful in their efforts to locate the boat with dead bodies that was on Monday spotted offshore Guyana.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill said the vessel was last spotted on Monday afternoon.
He told INews that a Guyana Defence Force reconnaissance flight as well as a helicopter provided by ExxonMobil were unable to locate the boat at the location it was last seen.
Minister Edghill said, nevertheless, efforts are still being made to find the boat and bring it to shore.
The Guyana Police Force’s Deputy Communications Director Stan Gouveia also told the media that the vessel was not located.
He said “the joint search conducted today swept the entire Waini River top to the Pomeroon River mouth, with no sighting of any fishing boat and/or decomposing bodies.”
The Public Works Minister has responsibility for the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) – the agency which was initially apprised of the situation.
At around 14:04hrs on Monday, MARAD received information that a small open boat, with supposedly lifeless bodies onboard was drifting at sea, approximately 112 nautical miles from Georgetown.
The origin of the vessel and the nationality of the persons onboard remain unknown. It is also unclear how many bodies were onboard.
Efforts were being made yesterday to bring the boat to shore, however those were unsuccessful.
Minister Edghill had explained that at the “break of light” this morning, two boats were deployed from a location in Region One (Barima-Waini) in search of the vessel with dead bodies.
The Ministry of Public Works had noted that this is a highly sensitive and delicate operation and all necessary precaution are being adhere to.
