Tragedy at Sea

I normally keep this blog very upbeat, but the past few days have been hard on everyone, especially the locals here in Abaco. On Saturday, a mayday came in from a charter catamaran crew saying they had found bodies floating in the Sea of Abaco. Within minutes a dive operator and member of the Guana Cay rescue group was on scene. Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue headed that way also. The area was searched and more bodies were found on the neighboring islands. The Royal Bahamas Defense Force joined in the search and the U.S. Coast Guard was called in to help. Two C.G. helicopters were flying overhead for most of the afternoon, as well a C-130 plane that we could hear even at night (thanks Nancy for the photos).

It ended up that a Haitian sailboat smuggling between 45 and possibly up to 87 people (reported by immigration to the Nassau Tribune) hit the reef off of Fowl Cay near Man-O-War and sank, most likely the night before. 15 people were rescued that day and 2 more the next day. Unfortunately the number of those that perished has skyrocketed. Right now 28 bodies have been found, 12 of which went down with the wreck, so divers were called in. Many of these Haitians do not know how to swim and stayed with the boat, probably huddling below decks. From what I have read there are still other bodies that they cannot get to because the wreck is on them. This has been so hard for the local volunteers who have been out on the water daily collecting the deceased...they certainly are not used to having to do this kind of grisly work. Even though we may be out having fun, racing, and going about our daily lives, this humanitarian crisis still weighs heavily on our minds.