Today completes day number 12 since the 4 Dangriga fishermen: 19-year-old Leon Joseph, 42-year-old Omar Thompson, 29-year-old Brenton Brackett, and Jeffrey Gomez, went missing. They left their hometown on Friday, December 11th, for what was supposed to be a weekend fishing trip. As of press time tonight, however, no one has seen or heard from them, and their families are gravely concerned for their whereabouts and wellbeing tonight.
For about 5 days now, the Coast Guard and the police have conducted extensive searches at sea in the hope of locating them. The best information to the authorities is that they left Southern Long Caye and they were heading to Dangriga, but they never made it.
Today, Police Commissioner Chester Williams gave us the latest information on the ongoing search and rescue operations:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"The Police and the Coast Guard remain out at sea searching the area of Long Caye, where these men were supposedly last seen. But, so far, our search has yielded nothing. We're going to continue the search for as long as we can, and we're also getting assistance from other members of the public from Dangriga. And we're going to see how that search materializes down the road."
Reporter
"Is there any concern that these men may be the victims of any sort of foul play, or so, sir?"
Chester Williams
"Well, there are several things that have come to mind. I don't wanna speculate at this time. We're going to wait and see what happens down the road."
Tonight the families of these four men still have no answers, they can only wait and watch the horizon while hoping for a Christmas miracle homecoming.
The Coast guard is asking anyone with information to please contact their operations center at 222-5262 or call the nearest police station.
