HUNTING CAYE, Toledo District, Wed. Mar. 20, 2019– A sailboat ran aground on the southern reef and has since been abandoned. The boat remains high and dry on the reef in Hunting Caye, and its owner remains unknown.

Wil Mejia and the Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) said that they were informed of a boat that ran aground on Thursday night, and was abandoned.

Mejia said that they went to Hunting Caye and saw the abandoned boat on the reef, not far from the Coast Guard Hunting Caye operational base, where Coast Guard officers, as well as policemen and soldiers of the Belize Defence Force, are stationed.

He said that he doesn’t know how it was possible for the owner of the boat to elude the authorities.

Mejia and the BTV said that they also saw another boat not far from the sailboat that was lodged on the reef, but this boat seemed to have been aground for a longer time and they are calling on the Coast Guard and the Ministry of the Environment to remove the boats from the reef to avoid further damage to our precious Barrier Reef.