By: Vahnu Manikchand and Amar Persaud
The search for the three fishermen who went missing after their vessel capsized on Saturday morning in the Atlantic Ocean has been unsuccessful thus far, and the Coast Guard team has returned to shore after the underwater boat was damaged by the ‘rough seas’.
This is according to Captain John Flores, one of the members of the high-level Board of Inquiry (BoI) that was set up by the Government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sunken vessel – World Friend 307, which is owned by Noble House Seafoods Limited.
“They were unsuccessful in locating the vessel. They scanned the location where they removed the net, but it is not there, so they are returning to Georgetown,” Flores told this publication on Wednesday evening.
Earlier in the day, he had related that the search-and-rescue team had seemingly found the location where the vessel went under water, but fishing nets in the area obstructed the diving team from further investigating the deep sea in a bid to locate the missing men and fishing trawler. The nets are suspected to be those of the vessel which capsized.
However, while the search team was able to remove the nets, Captain Flores disclosed, the team was forced to return to shore after their underwater vessel was damaged by rough weather out in the Atlantic.
“The vessel has some damages due to the rough seas. Our survey boat that has the equipment affixed to it [to do underwater search]… Once we repair [it], we head out on Friday (to) widen the search,” he indicated.
Other search teams
Meanwhile, the missing fishermen’s families have also dispatched search teams in the Atlantic Ocean. But according to Flores, the Coast Guard’s underwater boat is needed to locate the capsized vessel.
“There are other boats there, but we have the boat that can do the underwater search. So, they are depending on us to locate it before any diving can be done,” he explained.
The three fishermen went missing after their trawler capsized in the Atlantic Ocean some 18 miles off of the Mahaicony Coast on Saturday morning. Missing are 44-year-old Captain Harold Damon of Lot 4 Water Street, Agricola, Greater Georgetown and two crew members: 46-year-old Winston Sam of Lot 32 Public Road, McDoom, Greater Georgetown and 78-year-old Ronald Burton of Lot 23 Water Street, Agricola, Greater Georgetown.
A fourth crew member, Vincent Dazzell, survived the tragedy and was rescued by another fishing boat and brought to shore on Saturday afternoon. Before coming to shore, however, they had spent some three hours exploring the area in search of the three missing fishermen, but to no avail.
With a week approaching since the boat mishap occurred, family members of the missing men are growing frustrated.
When contacted on Wednesday, Pamela Sam, sister of the missing man Winston Sam, expressed that the family is growing anxious now that four days have passed and there seems to be no sighting of the fishermen.
“Of course we are devastated here as the time goes by and nothing is being done…We are worried and frustrated with the promises and nothing to back it up,” she expressed.
“I’m not looking for money. We need closure, we need to see him dead or alive,” Pamela has expressed.
While acknowledging that efforts are underway to find the missing men, the sister expressed hope that the Government would keep up the search until the bodies are found.
“That will bring closure to us, and we will know what to do from there,” she explained.
On the other hand, Claudine Welch, daughter of the missing Ronald Burton, is in receipt of some slightly different information.
“My brother was there [on Tuesday]; they went in the water and they bring up all the nets and they saw the boat,” she revealed to this publication when contacted on Wednesday.
She explained that her brother usually goes out in the mornings to join the search and returns in the evenings.
When contacted on Wednesday night, she said they were yet to return to shore. The woman related that they would have to wait until her brother returns home to get updates on the search efforts.
However, Welch admitted that her family is also growing frustrated with the situation.
“It’s really frustrating for us; me, my brothers, my sisters, my whole family,” she expressed. “It’s really frustrating. When you go, they just talking about the boat, they aren’t talking (about) lives,” she added.
Welch stated that the younger family members still have hope that the man has survived the unfortunate incident. “The young siblings, they waiting for him to come, they have hope…”
“So, I’m just waiting on time, just waiting if we could have a body so we could get to bury him,” she added.
Welch also explained that her family is not too focused on a compensation package, but she reiterated her disappointment in the company’s handling of the situation.
“We might be living in this break down house as people might say… but we’re happy with what we have. Whatever people might want give, I’m not running to that part…the owner for Noble House, they have heart? They have a family, they have a soul, they could’ve at least say, ‘Let me go see these people in person’. I would’ve feel so blessed, but nobody come,” the daughter reasoned.
Authorities have already announced that the company could face sanctions over its failure to promptly report the matter.
No records
During a press conference on Monday, Director General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Stephen Thomas, explained, “There are distress procedures. All vessels are required to have a card with the distress procedure close to the radio, so should there be an emergency, they would call all stations for any vessels within the vicinity, they would hear that and come to their assistance.”
Against this backdrop, the MARAD Head contended, “We have no records of calls being made from the vessel on that channel, the emergency channel. With respect with the contact that was made with Noble House earlier in the day, they should be informing us right away, which is the lighthouse which works 24×7. We have the Coast Guard, we have our boat house, we have various entities that work 24×7 that they are to contact, and we activate emergency response to the distress, but that wasn’t done in this case.”
In addition to Captain Flores, the BoI established to investigate the matter also comprises of Yurlander Hughes of the Transport and Harbours Department, Ronald Charles of the Ministry of Public Works, Rawle Williams of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard, Ewart Wray of the Guyana Police Force Maritime Unit, Dwayne Vyphuis who is an Occupational Safety and Health Officer at the Labour Ministry, and Denzil Roberts who is the Head of the Department of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Noble House Seafoods Limited has since issued a statement saying it would cooperate with this investigation as well as launch an internal probe of its own.
The company has also assured the families of the crew members that they would continue to “support all and every effort to locate the crew members”.
