The search for the boat containing bodies that was seen floating offshore Guyana on Monday will continue outside of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill says.
Contacted for an update yesterday afternoon, Edghill told Stabroek News that despite a number of searches local authorities were unable to locate the boat.
He explained that the last of the vessels which were out searching returned yesterday morning and reported that there was no sighting of the boat.
That vessel departed on Tues-day afternoon and had onboard members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard, Edghill said.
According to Edghill, local authorities are satisfied with the searches that were conducted in Guyana’s waters during which all the “possible” and “probable” areas were combed.
He said a number of international partners were contacted and asked to be on the lookout for the missing vessel in their waters.
Following the discovery of the vessel, an inter-agency task force comprising members of the Guy-ana Defence Force coast guard and the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) was established to conduct investigations.
It was initially stated that efforts were being made to have the boat towed to shore.
However, Edghill, during an emergency press conference on Tuesday night had reported that the authorities had lost sight of the boat.
Edghill had said that it has been established that no Guya-nese vessel or sea crew is missing. Surinamese counterparts were also contacted but there have been no reports of any missing crew or vessel.
With the unfavourable weather patterns at sea, Edghill noted that it is unclear what has happened. He pointed out that the boat could have sunk or drifted in another direction.
There are no visible markings indicating the origin of the boat.
Director of Safety at MARAD, Captain John Flores, had explained that from the pictures seen, it appears as if the boat with the bodies had been drifting for some time.
Meanwhile, the Ministry in a press statement on Wednesday said that officials in Guyana have contacted their counterpart in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) to be on the lookout for the boat.
The statement had said that it is possible that the boat might have drifted towards T&T due to the direction of the ocean current.
According to the Ministry, the Maritime Administration Depart-ment (MARAD) has published a navigational warning through the US National Geospatial-Intelli-gence Agency (NGA) requesting vessels to be vigilant for a boat adrift and to report same if there is any sighting.
Emails were also sent to several sister organisations seeking their assistance in identifying the boat and the remains of those on board, the statement noted.
The statement explained that the GDF have so far executed three reconnaissance flights over the initial probable area and the expanded search area but the boat was not seen.
“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 track, 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 look out for the abandoned boat,” the statement explained.
“Two fast boats with two (2) – 200 HP engines each, left Morawhanna yesterday (Tues-day) 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,” it added.
