A former cross country champion missing at sea for two days is tonight feared dead after a boating accident on Saturday. 41-year-old Robert Mossiah along with 4 other men set off from Belize City in a 23 foot fiberglass boat around 1 on Saturday afternoon to go fishing. The captain was 25-year-old Alwin Gonzalez who told police that when they were in the "Stake Bank" area, which is about 8 miles off the city's coast, the boat split into two and began to sink. Gonzalez along with 42-year-old Floyd Bermudez, 43-year-old Hallet Arnold, and 37-year-old Kevin Ferguson managed to make it to safety. The men say Robert Mossiah never resurfaced.
The Coast Guard has been leading search efforts since Saturday night and we are told those efforts continue tonight. Robert's mother Marie Dawson was one of the last family members to see Robert alive. She told us that on Saturday afternoon she begged her son not to go.
Marie Dawson, Mother
"The last time I saw him was about one o'clock. He was sitting there waiting for Hallet Arnold to come and pick him up to go fishing and I tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen to me. So he left about quarter past one and that's the last saw of him."
Keith Swift,
Why did you want him not to go?
Marie Dawson,
"Because he is a epileptic."
An official of the Coast Guard told us that while they are still searching, it is a more of a recovery rather than a rescue operation. Known for his power, Robert Mossiah won the Cross Country Cycling Classic in 1985.
