One of four men missing at sea should be back home now – Foreign Affairs report

Rosemore Nanton, one of four men who had been missing at sea since January 12, should be back in St Vincent now.This is word coming from an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.{{more}}

According to Permanent Secretary Nathaniel Williams, his ministry got involved in the matter late last week, after relatives of Nanton met with him.

After meeting with the relatives, Williams said that he contacted the authorities in St Croix, where the men were said to have been taken.

The identities of the other men are still unknown; however, according to Williams, three of the four men who had been rescued were Vincentians and the other an Antiguan national.

One of the Vincentians was the captain of the boat and another, a resident of Antigua, the permanent secretary said.

He added that he was able to obtain the name of the individual with whom the men were staying and, together with the relatives, facilitate the man’s return to St Vincent.

The permanent secretary added that he had spoken to Nanton while he was in the US Virgin Islands, but was unable to communicate with the other men.

Williams said that he was told that the men had been drifting at sea for about nine days when they were rescued by an oil tanker and taken to the US Coast Guard base in St Croix, the US Virgin Islands.

And while one of the men was scheduled to return, Williams said the other two Vincentians had opted to stay to do some repairs on the vessel.

It was reported in the January 25 edition of SEARCHLIGHT that four men left the shores of St Vincent for Antigua on January 12.

According to information coming from Lieutenant Deon Henry of the Coast-guard, a phone call was received from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Martinique on January 16, informing them that a relative contacted them indicating that the men were having some engine trouble and were drifting off the coast of Montserrat.

However, on January 21, the local Coastguard received another piece of correspondence, this time from US Coastguard who indicated that four men had been rescued by a passing vessel; they were subsequently checked and were heading to St Croix. (DD)