Tonight, the family of Carlos Guerra, a 22-year-old Belize City resident is mourning his loss. After an extended search and rescue mission lasting almost 2 days, his body was found floating in the Sibun River behind Franks Eddy Village in the Cayo District this afternoon.
He went swimming with his family on Sunday in Franks Eddy, and he was suddenly swept away by a strong current in the river.
Search parties looked for him for the rest of Sunday evening, and the entire day yesterday. It was not until this afternoon that his body was located, confirming their worst fears. Cherisse Halsall spoke with his family members:
Obed Henriquez, Nephew
"On Sunday around 5:00, 6:00 o'clock around those times, they called us his cousin that was with him and they called saying that he drowned."
"Dark night, Dark night, the bridge around there, they were swimming, he wasn't in the water all day but they told us that at the end of the day when they were already coming home he went it was a big hole there and he didn't see it he stood there and the current took him."
"He got carried away by the current and they didn't see him come up they last saw him with his head up. So, we went, we found a car to take us, we went but when we got there it was too dark to look for him so we waited at one of the friend's house and in the morning we went looking, during the night we had a pickup going to see, we had hoped maybe he got out and he was on the street. We didn't see him so we came back and today Tuesday we saw him floating by some roots and that's how. We found out because they called us."
Anna George, Mother of the deceased
"The very same girls that were with him, his girlfriend and his cousin took a little video and in it you can see him smiling like he was enjoying his river day."
"As you'd know mothers always speak well of their sons but really he was an obedient son and very happy, always smiling even though he fought with his sisters but nothing that important. He was a well-mannered kid, he always respected me and for me, he was a marvelous son even though I raised him by myself. I am a single mother and I know that raising boys for me was a bit hard but I asked God for him to give me the strength to raise them as well as I could because I see all the delinquency there in the streets and I was afraid of all that. I said I'm single I don't have that father figure for my son. I had a lot of fears but I held on to the hands of God."
"And he was a good guy for me. He was an excellent guy and seeing it there at the river the number of people who went out to help me and said good things about him. Now I know for sure that yes I raised my son in the best manner possible and I feel like I should use this opportunity to give thanks to all the people who came out to help me to be able to find him. I'd also like to thank the Coast Guard. And to everyone who was present in that place."
