The Guyana Coast Guard and its supporting agencies are preparing to call off the search for the small vessel that was spotted two days ago in Guyana’s waters with a number of dead bodies aboard.
Last evening, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill called a press conference to announce that the vessel had disappeared and the authorities had no clue of its whereabouts.
It was last seen on Monday night about 80 miles off the coast of Guyana.
The crew of an outgoing vessel that first spotted the vessel and made the emergency calls, was asked to keep an eye on it, as the local authorities mobilized resources to head out to sea.
The Coast Guard and supporting agencies did not head out to sea until more than 15 hours later.
In a statement this afternoon, the Public Works Ministry which has taken the lead on the search for the vessel with the bodies indicated that there has still been no sighting.
In addition to a number of vessels from the private sector joining the search, the GDF also conducted a number of flights over the area where the vessel was last spotted.
Those searches also came up empty handed.
The Guyana Maritime Administration has since issued a warning to all vessels that might have to traverse the area to be on the look out for the drifting vessel and to report any sighting of it.
Guyana has also reached out to the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard since it is suspected that if the vessel is still drifting it could make its way into Trinidadian waters.
Although the vessel with the dead bodies was spotted in Guyana’s waters, there are no reports of any missing vessels or crew locally. There are also no reports from neighbouring Suriname about any missing vessel.
The vessel was discovered without an engine, leading security officials to suspect a possible pirate attack.
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