After that discovery was made, the entire focus of the search changed. It has been zoned in on that area. Jet skis and boats have been deployed on sea and the BDF has sent armed soldiers unto the densely forested mangrove islands, at least six of them. This afternoon at 4:30, the families along with police and the Coast Guard held a press briefing. Here's how that went.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
This is the Ocean Hopper boat that the 7 men were on. This evening at 5:00, the 27-foot Mexican skiff was brought here to the Coast Guard compound in Ladyville at the Price Barracks. Only 7NEWS was there as CIB investigators examined it for the first time, and they came up with a significant find. Inside these plastic bags that were tucked in one of the compartments are the cell phones and wallets believed to have belonged to a number of the men. It's a major discovery
but because it came so late in the evening, it's hard to say what it actually determines about the circumstances or the whereabouts of the missing 7.
The boat was found here near the Drowned Caye Range - about 8 miles due east of Belize City. It was abandoned, half submerged and did not have the 50 horsepower Mercury engine or the blue canopy.
Audrey Matura-Shephard,
"At about 11:30 we got word that a fisherman had spotted a boat by itself in the area of Banister Caye."
Lt. Col. Johnny Borland, Coast Guard
"The area where the Ocean Hopper was found is located just off Drowned Caye itself. That's a shallow piece of area. The vessel was partially submerged and one of the reasons why it wasn't completely submerged is because of the depth of that water. If we move west of there we get into the mangroves and the island itself and that is very harsh vegetation. As I said before, its crisscrossed with thick mangrove vegetation, swampy with islets, and creeks and its very hard to traverse that on foot hence the reason we have small boats and the jet skis to support us getting in and out of that terrain."
Audrey Matura-Shephard,
"The engine is missing from the boat and it could be a very important clue for us. Who has possession of that engine, whoever took it, might be able to give us very valuable information and so you need to know that the serial number, it is a 50 horsepower Mercury engine, serial number 1B003789. So if anyone has information or finds someone selling an engine, 50 horsepower Mercury engine, please contact us, contact the police because it might just be the lead we need. In the meantime, we also want people to know that because night is setting and we have not found them, if there is anyone that can provide resources tomorrow, of any form, we got jet skis this evening, small boats and aircraft. Tomorrow we need more of those because we need to comb coast, inner, and outer waters and we will be having a strategic meeting tonight. You can call here anytime at Avis, offer your services, and we will be planning how best to deply the resources."
Today at a press conference, gravely concerned family members and friends gathered. These are the 7 men who were on board. Darrington Escobar, 48 years old; Mauro Ismael Quiroz, 50 years old; his son Abner Quiroz, 31 years old; Magistrate Richard Swift, 50 years old; Nick Egbert Nicholson, 53 years old; Gustavo Briceno, 42 years old; and Elon Reyes, 25 years old. Lt. Col. John Borland of the Coast Guard said they are still treating it as a search and rescue.
Lt. Col. Johnny Borland,
"This is a search and rescue operation continuing. Because we found the vessel, we are still looking for the missing persons however it has changed to persons in the water possibly or persons in the mangroves. But it is still a search and rescue effort and we have all hopes that these people are alive and now it takes a gallant effort from all of us involved to find them and recover them and return them to their families as I said earlier on."
The BDF's Lt. Col. Reuel Black says that no bloodstains were found on the boat. He says the BDF suspects that the men went after the vessel had been disabled. And that's the question: how did it get disabled. Well it appears to investigators to be the work of sea pirates who stripped it of the engine and canopy. But whether this happened before or after the engine became disabled is unclear.
There are two important pieces of information: that the BDF reports there is no sign of blood on the vessel, and second that the cell phones and wallets had been neatly bagged away.
