Three fishermen from Limón who went missing in the Caribbean on Sept. 21 were found alive on Sunday, drifting in Panamanian waters nearly a week after they set out, Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security (MSP) confirmed. Panama’s National Aeronaval Service (SENAN) located their boat roughly 37 kilometers (20 nautical miles) north of Cuango, in Panama’s Colón province, according to the Panamanian agency. All three men were reported in stable condition.
Costa Rica identified the crew as captain Omar Dunkley Salazar, Erick Hernández Madriz and Dexter González Presida, residents of the El Bosque and Los Cocos neighborhoods of Limón. Panamanian officials gave the men’s ages as 39, 41 and 44. The three left Los Cocos at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 21, heading out through the Cieneguita river mouth aboard El Cosmo, an open artisanal fishing panga about 8 meters (27 feet) long. They were headed for fishing grounds near Manzanillo, close to the border with Panama.
The boat’s engine failed while the men were at sea, leaving them unable to return under their own power, and currents carried the small vessel away from the Costa Rican coast toward Panama. When the panga did not come back to its usual landing point, an alert was raised and the search began.
Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard Service ran daily patrols after the disappearance was reported and coordinated with Panamanian authorities to widen the search area, according to the MSP. The break in the case came from a cellphone when Ronald Hernández Madriz, a relative of one of the fishermen, said the men had repeatedly switched on a phone while adrift in the hope of finding a signal, and that one of them eventually connected to a Panamanian network and dialed 911, which allowed authorities to trace them.
SENAN said its Regional Aeronaval Operations Center received the alert and sent the patrol vessel P-230 along with a fixed-wing aircraft to search the Panamanian Caribbean. Anthony Hernández, Erick’s brother, said the crew was reached at 11:15 a.m. Panama time on Sunday, or 10:15 a.m. in Costa Rica.
Relatives described six days spent in an open boat with no shelter, exposed to sun, rain, cold and heat. The three men have been friends since childhood, according to their families. After the rescue, the fishermen were taken to the Almirante Cristóbal Colón Aeronaval Base in Colón, where SENAN paramedics and personnel from Panama’s 911 emergency system provided pre-hospital care before transferring them to a medical center for evaluation, according to Panamanian authorities.
The MSP credited the outcome to cooperation between our two countries, noting that Costa Rica’s Coast Guard and its Limón station worked alongside SENAN and Panama’s National Border Service on the operation. Plans for the men’s return were still being arranged. The MSP said on Sunday that authorities were coordinating a vessel to transport the crew, while relatives said Panamanian officials intended to take the three by bus to the border, where family members would meet them and drive them home to Limón.
