Guatemalan Naval Vessel Drifts into Belizean Water Near Hunting Caye

On Sunday morning, a Guatemalan naval vessel accidentally drifted into Belizean waters. The boat captain and his crew got disoriented after one of their engines failed while they were out at sea. Coast guard personnel spotted the vessel drifting near Hunting Caye and quickly set out to intercept it. Rear Admiral Elton Bennett reported that when the patrol team caught up with the Guatemalan seamen, there was a brief exchange of information.  The Guatemalans were safely escorted back to their territorial waters without any issues. Here’s more from the commandant of the Belize Coast Guard.

 

Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant, B.C.G.

“Sometime around 7:00 on Sunday morning, our patrol that was based out at the forward operating base out at Hunting Caye spotted a Guatemalan vessel that was inside Belizean waters.  The patrol deployed from Hunting Caye and intercepted that Guatemalan vessel, there was an exchange of information and an exchange of words between the Guatemalan navy and members of the Belize Coast Guard.  Basically, the Belize Coast Guard personnel informed the Guatemalan navy that they were inside of Belize.  The Guatemalan navy informed our patrol that they had mechanical issues, that they lost one of their engines and also that they were disoriented.  Our patrol informed them that they were inside Belizean waters, and we escorted them from that location.  We escorted them towards Guatemala’s direction and watched them as they left Belize’s sea spaces and ventured into Guatemalan sea space.  So that incident occurred sometime around seven o’clock in the morning on Sunday. This was a small, interceptor type vessel and it had six personnel onboard.  The Guatemalan vessels that we would normally see in that area are the larger patrol boats. This is a very different case, a much smaller vessel.  They cooperated and we escorted them out from that location and with no problem.”