Two Ambergris Caye Residents Rescued At Sea After Jet Ski Capsized  

An ordinary evening on Ambergris Caye turned into a harrowing ordeal when a man and a woman set off on a jet ski from Secret Beach. A large wave capsized the jet ski, leaving them stranded in open waters as night fell. The situation quickly worsened as strong currents separated them, forcing each to fend for themselves in the dark. The woman swam for hours, eventually finding a shallow area to stand. Meanwhile, the man drifted further into open waters. Fortunately, help arrived. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Two Ambergris Caye residents faced a great deal of misfortune on Wednesday evening out at sea when a large wave capsized their jet ski. Rolando Uh and Lenny Elias left Secret Beach on a jet ski at around four-thirty p.m. Dramatic video footage of the moment Uh was rescued by a joint patrol team, almost six hours after they left the shore, has surfaced on social media. Lieutenant Mark Choc and the joint patrol team deployed from the San Pedro Coast Guard Base after receiving a distress call.

 

L.T.J.G. Mark Choc, Operations Officer, Belize Coast Guard

“At around twenty-two hundred hours, or ten p.m. yesterday, Wednesday twenty-fourth of July. The Belize Coast Guard Operations Center received a report of a possible distress situation of Secret Beach in San Pedro. The information we received was that a male person Mr. Rolando Oh who is the manager of Secret Beach Water Park along with a female companion Ms. Len Elias departed from Secret Beach around four thirty and they headed northwest from the area.”

 

 

 

The Coast Guard launched a search and rescue operation at around ten p.m. That is five hours after the individuals left Secret Beach on the jet ski. And, according to Lieutenant Choc, that was when they received the distress call.

 

 

 

 

 

LTJG Mark Choc

“Moments after the search was launched it was reported that around ten-twenty p.m. it was reported that the female, Ms. Len Elias was located.”

 

A group of San Pedro residents had launched their own search and rescue efforts. They rescued Elias near Prince Island, four nautical miles north of Secret Beach. She found shallow waters where she waited for help.

 

LTJG Mark Choc

“Reports was that she was heard screaming by a search team and she was found wearing a life jacket. Apparently, she had been swimming for the past three hours until she reached to a shallow area where she was able to stand.”

 

Search efforts to locate Uh continued. He was not found until eleven-thirty, one hour later. The joint patrol team found him drifting in open waters about three nautical miles north of Secret Beach.

 

LTJG Mark Choc

“Mr. Uh was found in the water floating and drifting. So, he was quickly recovered from the water and transported to safe harbor where he received medical evaluation. Based on the medical evaluation, both individuals were found to be in good health. The effects of the elements did not have an effect on them. This was due to the quick and effective response of the search and rescue team.”

 

 

 

 

According to the locations where both individuals were rescued, they drifted far apart and spent a great deal of time alone, hoping to be rescued. Unlike Elias, Uh did not have a life jacket, which means that he had no aid to assist in keeping him afloat. There are no official details on the amount of time that elapsed between the jet ski capsized and when both individuals were rescued.

 

LTJG Mark Choc

“Based on the information we received it was reported that both individuals were on the jet ski. However, there was a large wave that knocked them off the jet ski, causing them to lose control of the jet ski.”

 

Paul Lopez

How lucky are they today to be alive today, having been in the water for so long?

 

LTJG Mark Choc

“I will be very honest, survival in the water is difficult to achieve. After several hours in water, they could have been severely dehydrated and reach to a point of severe hyperthermia and leads to death. Again, we are thankful for the quick response of the search team. They were able to be located quickly and any prolonged search efforts after that would have more than likely led to something severe and even loss of life. Our main priority during search and rescue missions is to quickly locate the individual. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is a very difficult task but collaborating with different agencies makes our effort a lot more easier like we did last night with the police.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.