Belize Port Authority Probes Overturned Patrol Vessel Incident off Ambergris Caye

The Belize Port Authority (BPA) is investigating a marine incident in the waters just off the coast of Ambergris Caye. On Friday, around 11:00 am, BPA received a report that a patrol vessel, property of Hol Chan Marine Reserve, had overturned. Ports Commissioner Darlin Gaitan says there was no damage to lives and explained the steps being taken by the statutory body. 

Darlin Gaitan, Ports Commissioner: “From our initial understanding is that the persons were across the reef to do some patrols and then returning they experience some engine problems and they also experienced a bit of weather and that’s when their vessel capsized. They were rescued, the persons are okay, and the two persons found onboard the vessel were okay. The vessel is still also okay and recovered from the sea as well. So this is thankful not a major incident because there is no first of all the concern of protecting lives, protecting the environment and also protecting marine property in that order. So in this case we can see that there was no major damage to lives, to environment and also to marine property so we’re very glad that this did not have a major impact.”

Gaitan encouraged mariners to be mindful of safety during the Easter holidays.

Darlin Gaitan, Ports Commissioner: “I think this accident is a stark reminder for us. We’re going into the Easter period, we’re going to see a lot of maritime activity and so we want to encourage everyone to really be mindful of maritime safety it can save lives so it’s a minor incident that happened over the weekend but as we can see over the last year we have had major incidents and some of these are avoidable, some of these have to do with the safety of navigation and ensuring that you are abiding by the rules of the road and proper seamanship and also wearing your life jackets, having proper means of communication etc. It can save you life. We want to encourage everyone to be safe.”