Six Venezuelan fishermen were yesterday
rescued and brought to land by the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard and the
United States Coast Guard (USCG), after their fishing vessel sank about 250
nautical miles south east of Jamaica’s mainland.
According to Major Basil
Jarrett, Civil Military Cooperation and Media Affairs Officer for the JDF, the
fishermen, who had sailed from Venezuela since early April, were discovered by
the United States Coast Guard who saw them in distress just south of Haiti. The
men were recovered from the sinking vessel by the USCG who then notified the
JDF Coast Guard and requested that they be received and handed over to the
Venezuelan embassy.
The six men were picked up by
the JDF Coast Guard and brought ashore at the JDF Coast Guard Headquarters in
Port Royal. They were received by representatives of the Ministry of Health
(MOH), the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Immigration
Officers, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Venezuelan Embassy. The
men were then processed and screened before being released to the patronage of
the Venezuelan embassy.
The six foreigners were
grateful to both the JDF and the United States Coast Guards for saving their
lives and expressed relief to be safe and back on land.
The JDF Coast Guard is the maritime
arm of the Jamaica Defence Force and has primary responsibility for search and
rescue operations at sea. Jamaica is a signatory to the International
Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (1979) which stipulates that, parties
to the convention “shall ensure that assistance be provided to any person in
distress at sea.”
