MARAD says still clueless about boat with bodies

The Interagency Task Force, led by Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), has been unable to locate the boat, which was seen drifting at sea on Monday with an unknown number of decomposed bodies inside.

“The boat with the seemingly lifeless persons on board, has not been seen since the evening of Monday 15, February 2021,” MARAD said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

On Tuesday, MARAD with support from the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force and the Private Sector mobilized a number of vessels to locate, and tow the boat into port, however, they have come up empty handed.

“One vessel that was operating offshore was directed to the area of the boat’s estimated position on Monday night. It spent several hours on Tuesday searching the probable area of the boat’s tract, but the effort was futile. This vessel has since returned to Port Georgetown, but its owner has several other vessels operating in the general area, and they have been advised to lookout for the abandoned boat,” MARAD said.

Additionally, two fast boats with two 200 HP engines each, left Morawhanna on Wednesday morning with a team that included members of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force. “They executed search patterns offshore and inshore, that encompassed the area from the Western Boundary of Guyana’s maritime border all the way to Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast. The Guyana Defence Force has so far executed three (3) reconnaissance flights over the initial probable area and also the expanded search area. They also did not report any sighting of the boat,” MARAD stated.

Another search vessel that has on board an officer and ranks from the GDF Coast Guard are still at sea searching for the boat but up to press time on Wednesday, did not locate the abandoned boat.

MARAD said it has published a Navigational Warning via the US NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (NGA) informing all vessel in the general area to be on the lookout for a vessel adrift and to report any sighting.

It has also sent emails to several equivalent organisations seeking their assistance in identifying the boat and the remains of those on board. It has also informed the Administration in Trinidad and Tobago to notify vessels about the boat, since the direction of the ocean current can possibly take it to this country.