Missing fishermen: Company could face sanctions for failing to promptly report boat mishap – MARAD

– BoI established to investigate incident

Noble House Seafoods, the company that employed the three fishermen who are currently missing at sea, could face sanctions for failing to promptly report the boat mishap to the relevant authorities.
This was revealed by Director General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) Stephen Thomas during a joint press briefing hosted on Monday.
“There are distress procedures, all vessels are required to have a card with the distress procedure close to the radio so should there be an emergency they would call all stations for any vessels within the vicinity they would hear that and come to their assistance.”
“We have no records of calls being made from the vessel on that channel, the emergency channel, with respect with the contact that was made with Noble House earlier in the day. They should be informing us right away, which is the lighthouse which works 24×7, we have the Coast Guard, we have our boathouse, we have various entities that work 24×7 that there are to contact and we activate an emergency response to the distress, but that wasn’t done in this case,” Thomas further related.

“Well perhaps there are various sanctions available that I think as the Ministers mention there’s a Board of Inquiry that was set up and maybe it can look at that among other things.”
The MARAD Director General further reiterated that vessels are usually required by law to report incidents within a 24-hour period.
“They’re mainly administrative measures in place but we have in the law every incident must be reported within 24 hours but that’s just for reporting
“But for response purposes like in this case it should be done immediately as they have information about a vessel having problems, there are various stages of emergencies. Not everything is an eminent emergency but there are various stages as I said to get to there but if we have gotten the report, we would have just informed vessels that there’s a vessel with a potential problem and they would have started closing in on the area but as said we had nothing of that nature in this instance,” Thomas added.
The missing men are 44-year-old Harold Damon of Lot 4 Water Street, Agricola, Greater Georgetown; 47-year-old Winston Sam of Lot 32 Public Road, McDoom, Greater Georgetown; and 78-year-old Ronald Burton of Lot 23 Water Street, Agricola, Greater Georgetown.
Also at the press briefing was Minister within the Public Works Ministry Deodat Indar who noted that based on preliminary information received, the incident was reported to the company at around 05:30h on Saturday but it was not reported to the authorities until late in the evening.

In addition, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn posited, “Our understanding is that there was no information passed on to the light or MARAD at the time of the incident so it was approximately 24 hours before there was any official knowledge of the incident. There was some gentleman who had been rescued by a fishing boat, he might have been on a life raft and he had reported to the Police station at Mahaica and subsequently to Ruimveldt,” Benn stated.
“So, there are questions to be asked with the owner of the vessel, Noble House, they had it is said I think 2 trawlers nearby afterward or something but up to that time there were no report of them finding of anyone in respect to the other 3 crew members.”
Meanwhile, a high-level Board of Inquiry (BoI) was established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The team comprises Yurlander Hughes of the Transport and Harbour Department, Captain John Flores of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD); Ronald Charles of the Ministry of Public Works; Rawle Williams of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard; Ewart Wray of the Guyana Police Force Maritime Unit; Dwayne Vyphius who is an Occupational Safety and Health Officer at the Labour Ministry; and Denzil Roberts who is the Head of the Department of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture.
It was reported that the men went missing after their trawler reportedly capsized in the Atlantic Ocean some 18 miles off of the Mahaicony Coast on Saturday morning. A fourth crew member survived the ordeal after being rescued by another fishing boat and was brought to shore on Saturday afternoon.
The surviving fisherman, Vincent Dazzell, reportedly told family that the vessel started to take in water and more so related that three other men who were on board are missing.
The Agricola, Greater Georgetown resident claimed that he was awoken by the captain sometime after 06:00h to check the boat, when he saw the engine room, ice-hold and ladder were already submerged.
He raised an alarm and the captain immediately contacted Nobel House but lost connection whilst reporting the incident. He further recalled that as the boat sank deeper, they also lost control of the vessel.
The man told the concerned family members that the crew was separated on two sides of the boat – he was with the captain. Dazzell related that the captain instructed him to cut the lifeboat as he went inside to get his phone with the aim of calling for assistance. As the boat capsized it reportedly pinned the three men.
The survivor informed relatives that he was in the water for some time before he was rescued by another boat. The fisherman claimed that they circled the area for some three hours before heading back to shore.
Upon arrival, he went to Noble House and informed the managers there of what transpired. However, the family members of the three missing men are all fuming with anger over how the matter is being handled by the company.
They argued that not only did the company fail to inform them of the incident but claimed that it is withholding information from them. Efforts by this publication to contact officials from Noble House for a comment were futile.
Subsequently, the Coast Guard was called in and a rescue team went out Sunday morning with the hopes of finding the men. The surviving fisherman reportedly accompanied them as well. Vessels and personnel, including divers, were deployed.
The search continues. The investigation by the BoI is expected to be completed in 14 days.
Meanwhile, Noble House Seafoods Limited in a release stated that it is deeply saddened by the incident involving the vessel “M/V WorldFriend 307”.
“The management of Noble House Seafoods Limited upon learning of this incident met with the relatives of the crew members and will continue to inform the relatives of all developments. Noble House Seafoods Limited wishes to assure the families of the crew members that they will continue to support all and every effort to locate the crew members,” the establishment related in a release.
Further, it stated that it has launched an internal investigation into the cause of this incident and stands ready to co-operate with any other potential investigation into this incident. (Amar Persaud)