Earlier on we told you about the boat with 35 passengers that were lost at sea during rough weather for a few terrifying hours yesterday. They left Goff’s Caye at 4:00 and by 5:00 they were fully lost – they had gone southwest instead of northwest. It was a scary situation which could have turned perilous had they not happened upon a Cobia Farming operation with a secure boat house that had phone and radio contact. Today we spoke to the Coast Guard’s Master Chief John Diego about the tangible risks.
Master Chief John Diego, Coast Guard
“It was reported that weather state was very rough yesterday and viability was poor. He claimed that his compass wasn’t functioning, was not working, and that is the only electronic device he said that he had onboard the vessel.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Okay so no GPS?”
Master Chief John Diego,
“Yes that is my understanding that he had no GPS or any other sort of electronic navigation equipment.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Now sir I’ve spoke to a few people who were on the board and they said they were very fortunate to have happened on, to bump into really this fish farm in the Robinson’s Point Area where they had a house boat and everybody was able secure themselves. Would you say that was a fortunate occurrence because obviously if you remain out at sea, obviously you start losing gas, you become and more disoriented, and then no one knows where you are?”
Master Chief John Diego,
“Certainly I would say it is fortunate and it is good they ended up at that point because it could have been worst. We all know that the sea is ungiven whereby captains and mariners need to be cognizant of the weather state, they need to leave on time because darkness will also allow poor visibility. So they need to take all these things in consideration when they are taking out tours with these large amounts of people.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Could this have been a disaster at sea?”
Master Chief John Diego,
“Certainly yes it could have been a major disaster which could have cost so many lives. However and thank God that did not happen.”
A headwind from the north is also believed to have pushed the boat south.
