7 well-known Belize City men are missing at sea tonight and after 34 hours without word, their families are fearing the worst while still hoping for the best. Co-owner of Avis Rent-A-Car in Belize, Derek or Darrington Escobar took 6 friends on a fishing trip yesterday morning.
Those friends are fellow Avis co-owner Ismael Quiroz, Magistrate Richard Swift, Egbert Nicholson, Elon Reyes, Abner Quiroz and Gustavo Briceno. They left from Belize City at 9:00 am on Escobar's boat 'the Ocean Hopper.' Relatives tell us that on occasion the fishing expeditions last right into the evening, so the alarm wasn't raised until very late when they hadn't returned.
Today, a massive search was launched using planes, a BATSUB helicopter, and Coast Guard vessels. But at news time, none of them had picked up any trace. Part of the problem is that no one really knows what area they were in because they are known to fish in different spots. That uncertainty coupled with strong northwesterly winds that made for very rough seas have complicated things. But search teams today focused on a sweep of those areas south of Caye Chapel. They believe the strong winds would have taken them south. Aerial searches went as far as Glover's Reef. It is a Mexican skiff with a blue canopy license number 0713.
The search has been temporarily discontinued due to darkness and will resume tomorrow.
