The intense search for BDF sergeant Ramon Aguilar continued today by air and land. We'll take you on the aerial search later on. But first, there was a major development today in the search for Sgt. Aguilar. The BDF confirmed to 7NEWS this evening that they have a recovered a water bottle and other items from the area and there is reason to believe they could belong to Sgt. Aguilar. The BDF's Chief of Staff Lt… Col. Reuel Black says there has been no confirmation but he thinks the find is good news.
Lt. Col. Reuel Black, BDF
"This afternoon we had some really good news in that we found a water bottle and some boot prints along with some other tracks that are not military and that was in the area of south Old Pastor Camp which is about sixteen and a half kilometers inside Belize which is good because if the equipment is that of Sgt. Aguilar, that means he is still in Belize, which we have been saying before. The only thing is that we had patrols in that area already before and it could be that it is one of our search patrollers that actually dropped their water bottle but we are confirming that right now."
Keith Swift,
There are about 200 to 300 people searching. Is that an accurate figure?
Lt. Col. Reuel Black,
"Well I would not give you an amount but suffice to say there is a substantial amount of soldiers and therefore it is intensive."
Keith Swift,
With so many people, how come they haven't found him yet?
Lt. Col. Reuel Black,
"Well you flew over the area, you see how vast the area is and if you put three hundred or six hundred or the whole Belize Defense Force out there, it will fit in less than a grid square. And a grid square is about half a mile by a half a mile. So if you look at that large area, the search has to be coordinated in places where it is likely that people will go. You don't search the whole jungle because it is not likely that he would go there. The search will continue until we find Sgt. Aguilar."
Those search efforts continued over the Rio Blanco area of Toledo this afternoon and we'll take you there along with the missing soldier's wife later on in the newscast.
