Three fishermen from Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast who vanished at sea on Oct. 19 have been found alive in Colombia, a relative said Saturday, ending a 12-day search that drew in coast guard and air support from three countries. Rosemary Zárate, the aunt of one of the men, said that the three were very weak but already on dry land. No official statement on the discovery had been made public by Costa Rican authorities as of Saturday evening, and details of where and how the men were found had not been released.
The men were identified as Carlos DÃaz, 27, a mechanic; Frederick Brown, 20, a hairdresser; and Michael González, 36. All three are from Cieneguita, a coastal community in the province of Limón. They left Cieneguita aboard the El Corrongo, a boat of about 10 meters (33 feet), at 3 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, and were expected back that evening. According to relatives, the engine had been giving trouble for days before the trip, and the crew carried food and water for a single day and no life jackets.
The crew later reported an engine failure and said they were stranded about 26 kilometers (16 miles) off the southern Caribbean coast, near the border with Panama. The first alert reached Panamanian authorities, who notified Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard Service. Commissioner Juan Carlos Alvarado, director of the National Coast Guard Service, said the search began the same day and continued without interruption. Coast guard boats from the Limón station patrolled the area while a U.S. aircraft flew overflights, with Panama’s National Aeronaval Service and the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South supporting the effort.
Search teams used a U.S. Coast Guard drift-modeling tool that weighs currents and wind to predict where a disabled vessel might travel. As the days passed, Alvarado warned that the search area was growing by the hour and did not rule out that the boat had drifted into international waters.
Relatives criticized the pace of the response during the search, saying they received few updates. Families also asked around coastal communities in Panama and Colombia for any sign of the men. Authorities are still looking into how the men reached Colombian territory and the condition of the boat, according to initial reports. No details on their return to Costa Rica have been announced.
It is the second time in roughly a month that Costa Rican fishermen have been found alive after drifting in the Caribbean. In late September, Panamanian authorities rescued three Costa Rican fishermen who had spent six days adrift.
