Georgetown: Lighthouse personnel, fishermen, coastal mariners and all other seagoing vessels have all been alerted to be on the lookout for the MV Oliver L. which went missing last month en-route from Trinidad to Port Georgetown. The vessel registered in the name of Raymond Lord, which has been missing since Christmas Day was manned by Captain Wexton Andrews, and two seamen ratings. Although efforts have been intensified there has still been no word on the whereabouts of the vessel, which prompted a meeting between Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn, Lt. Col. Orin Porter, Operations Officer of the Coast Guard; Michael Tennant, River Navigation Officer, MARAD; Harbour Master, Volton Skeete; Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Gary Beaton; and Director of Maritime Safety Stephen Thomas. They all met in order to study the reports that have so far come in from the search and rescue operations.
Contact at the Diplomatic level has also been made with both Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
“We will continue to work hard at this to bring what we hope to be a good closure to the matter,” said Minister Benn.
Responding to the fear that the operation could at some time move away from a Search and Rescue operation and become a Search and Recover, Minister Benn said, “We would have to await the outcome of the current search that is underway in the Orinoco before we determine that. There have been occasions where we have been told the vessel has been delayed on a number of occasions, and didn’t report after four or five days. This is an extended period and highly unusual.”
If it is necessary, the call will be made, the Minister explained. However, that determination will be made based on the information received over the next few days.
He added, “Of course when we would have concluded that we would have comprehensively searched all the areas along the Guyana coast and that we are satisfied too, that the help of Venezuela has been thorough, and the help of the Trinidad and Tobago coastguard too has been thorough and comprehensive, we will make the call.”
There is no indication that the vessel and crew may have slipped through any Port Authorities and gone elsewhere said Minister Benn adding that he would be surprised if they did that for any reason. “They have families. Their families are concerned about them. We are of course very concerned about them (too). We are informed that they have both cell phones and satellite phones”.
“The vessel is also equipped with the VHF, UHF, SSP radios, so it is worrying from that point of view,” he said.
On the issue of using a tracking system to locate the vessel and crew, Minister Benn explained that they do not have instrumentation to be tracked in that manner, adding that while all the normal things are installed on the vessel such as the radios and satellite phones, the phones would have to be on to be able to track.
Director of Maritime Safety, Stephen Thomas, explained further that while the satellite telephone on the vessel is not a mandatory piece of equipment, it’s a good piece of equipment. Thomas added, “According to the owner, they have been trying to contact it but it’s not on. They did not get any response. We’ve tried the cell phone numbers given for the crew also, and we aren’t getting any response.”
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