Nets obstruct divers from investigating area where missing fishermen & capsized boat may be located

By: Amar Persaud

As the search continues for three fishermen who went missing after the vessel which they were working on capsized on Saturday morning in the Atlantic Ocean, the search and rescue team has seemingly found the location where the vessel went under water but fishing nets in the area obstructed the diving team from investigating further.

As such, efforts are currently being made to remove the nets so the diving team can explore the deep sea in a bid to locate the missing men.

This was shared by Captain John Flores, one of the members of the high-level Board of Inquiry (BoI) which was established by the government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the vessel, World Friend 307, which is owned by Noble House Seafoods Limited.

“As of last night [Tuesday night], the trawlers were trying to clear the nets as these were preventing the divers from getting down…so, they returned this morning,” Flores explained when contacted by INews for an update on the mission.

The nets are suspected to be those of the vessel which capsized. When asked if the boat was spotted, the official could not say.

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 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 contended.

While acknowledging that efforts are underway to find the missing men, the sister expressed hope that the government will 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.

Moreover, Pamela said the last set of information her family received was that the team of divers were scheduled to go out on Tuesday into the area where the nets were found. She confirmed receiving the information as explained by Flores, that the nets prevented the divers from exploring the area further.

On the other hand, Claudine Welch, daughter of the missing man Ronald Burton, is in receipt of some slightly different information.

“My brother was there; 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.

“They left [again] this morning (Wednesday). They does leave every morning at 6 ‘o’clock so when they come back tonight, we might know what else happened,” she added.

Meanwhile, Welch admitted that her family too is 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 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.

During a press conference on Monday, Director General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) Stephen Thomas had explained that, “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 that, “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 light house 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 Harbour 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 Vyphius 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 they will cooperate with this investigation as well as launch an internal probe of its own.

The company also assured assure the families of the crew members that they will continue to “support all and every effort to locate the crew members”.

The trio went missing after their trawler reportedly capsized in the Atlantic Ocean some 18 miles off of the Mahaicony Coast.

The surviving fisherman has since told family members of the three missing men that the vessel started taking in water early Saturday morning.

The survivor, who is also from Agricola, claimed that he was awoken by the captain sometime after 06:00h to check the boat, when he saw the engine room, ice-hold and ladder were already under water.

At that point, the captain called in to alert Noble House but lost connection whilst talking to them. The survivor further recalled that as the boat sank deeper, they also lost control of the vessel.

The man told the concerned family members that the crew were separated on two sides of the boat – he was with the captain. He also related that the captain instructed him to cut the lifeboat and went inside to get his phone so that he could try calling for help, when the boat capsized and reportedly pinned the three missing men.

The survivor informed relatives that he was in the water for some time before being rescued by another boat. The fisherman claimed that they circled the area for some three hours before heading back to shore.

Upon arrival, he went to Noble House and informed the managers there of what transpired.