Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 11 months ago
The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard is trying to locate one of their own who disappeared during a Search and Rescue operation off the waters of Trinidad and Tobago early Friday morning.

Mark Bassant has the story.
Transcript
00:00Well, topping the news this evening, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard is trying to locate
00:04one of their own who disappeared during a search and rescue operation off the waters
00:09of Trinidad and Tobago early this morning.
00:12Mark Besant has the story.
00:15Abel Seaman K. Simon from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard is said to be missing during
00:20a search and rescue operation in the early hours of Friday morning off the waters of
00:24Trinidad and Tobago.
00:26Several Coast Guard sources told TV6 News that Abel Seaman Simon was part of an operation
00:32in which a Coast Guard vessel intercepted another vessel, allegedly a semi-submersible
00:37manned by nationals of Colombia whom they believe were transporting illicit drugs.
00:42The nationals were detained and taken to Stoubles Bay.
00:46A.B.
00:47Simon, according to sources, was said to be aboard the intercepted vessel, helping his
00:50crew members go on board the TTCG vessel when a plug on the semi-submersible was pulled,
00:56resulting in the vessel taking in water and its front tipping upwards.
01:00Sources said it's possible when that happened A.B.
01:02Simon got sucked up in the front of the vessel, which eventually sunk.
01:07This plug is used to sink the submarine quickly to get rid of contraband.
01:11These semi-submersibles or low-profile vessels are used by drug cartels to transport drugs
01:17to Europe and North America and are very difficult to detect by radar as they remain underwater
01:23most of the times.
01:24TV6 was not provided with an exact location of the incident but was told that a search
01:29and rescue operation took place some 55km off Trinidad and Tobago waters.
01:35TV6 News reached out to Coast Guard Public Relations Officer Lieutenant Khadija Lamy
01:40for further information, but she said she was not familiar with the incident.
01:45Mark Bassant, TV6 News.
01:48And only after the call was made to the TTCG, they issued a release confirming the missing
01:53able-bodied seaman and indicated that it happened while the Trinidad and Tobago Coast
01:58Guard was participating in a multinational exercise and boarded a vessel of interest.
02:04Three foreign nationals, they said, were removed from the vessel they intercepted that began
02:09taking in water.
02:10The TTCG said two Coast Guard officers remained aboard the intercepted vessel to see if there
02:16were any other persons on board when rough seas caused the vessel to suddenly submerge.
02:22One of the sailors on deck was thrown into the water while the other, who TV6 believes
02:28is able-bodied seaman Simon, was trapped inside the submerged vessel.
02:32The sailor thrown into the water was rescued.
Be the first to comment
Add your comment