DANGRIGA, Tue. Dec. 22, 2020–Concern is mounting for four Dangriga fishermen missing at sea. One is the common-law-husband of a police officer who works in Belize City. On Friday, December 18 she filed a missing person report. She told police that 42-year-old Omar Thompson dropped her off at the bus terminal in Dangriga on Monday, December 7th for her commute to work. She was able to communicate with him on Friday, December 11th while he and the others were away fishing.
However, when she tried reaching him later that day he did not respond. The other missing fishermen are 29-year-old Brenton Brackett, 19-year-old Leon Joseph and Jeffrey Gomez.
The Belize Coast Guard is assisting in the search for the men according to Lieutenant Kenrick Thomas, Operations Commander at the Belize Coast Guard, “on Friday December 18th at about 11:40 the Coast guard received a call reporting four missing persons at sea. The vessel was described to us as being an 18-footer powered by a 40-horsepower engine. Immediately the Coast Guard initiated a search and rescue operation…after calculating set and drift in relation to the date that they were last seen the Coast guard has conducted search patterns in different areas.” Those searches have come up empty and the situation has become desperate. “Our searches would have been more effective and the search area would have been less or smaller. We are still conducting a search and rescue mission. We’re not looking for bodies as yet”, says Lieutenant Thomas.
The Coast guard is asking anyone with information to contact their operations centre at 222-5262.