Coast Guard Rescues Seven Near San Pedro

Seven persons, including two minors, were rescued by members of the Belize Coast Guard on Saturday after the vessel they were traveling aboard began taking on water in the San Pedro area.  According to a report from the Belize Coast Guard, the Operations Center received a distress call shortly after 2:30 p.m. on June 6 indicating that a small vessel with seven persons onboard was taking on water in the vicinity of Mosquito Caye and required urgent assistance.  The Coast Guard immediately activated a Search and Rescue operation and dispatched its San Pedro patrol unit to the area. At approximately 3:00 p.m., officers located the vessel, identified as the Jamie, about 1.1 nautical miles northwest of Cayo Espanto.  Speaking on the successful operation, Rear Admiral Greg Soberanis, Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, says the swift response by personnel and the actions of the vessel’s captain helped ensure that the incident ended without loss of life.

Gregory Soberanis, Commandant, Belize Coast Guard: “We immediately responded from station San Pedro. The information that we received was that there was a vessel that was sinking and taking on water with seven passengers on board. Upon arrival at the scene, the vessel was in somewhat of some shallow waters and at the time was being assisted by a smaller vessel that was in the immediate area when the incident was occurring. And we were able to coordinate with the smaller vessel that was in the area to transport all seven persons from the sinking vessel with that small boat and eventually brought them on to our boat, which was the larger vessel, and take them to safety. On board were five adults and two minors. The captain of the vessel made a prudent decision, which I believe helped in this particular situation where based on the reports that we received from our patrol that responded, that the captain of the vessel that was in distress, realizing that the vessel was taking on water, made his way to shallow waters so that the vessel would not be completely submerged. As far as we know there was no there’s no environmental impact at this time. It is an area not too far from where we are located in San Pedro in the area of Mosquito Caye just approximately one nautical mile north-west of our location.”

The seven persons onboard the vessel Jamie were identified as Mark White, the boat captain; Nasr Mike Harmouch; Yasser Harmouch, Hussein Harmouch, and two minors.