At 10:15pm Thursday 17th of April 2014 the RCIPS officially called off the search for the two men who are said to have left the safety of their vessel a short time before the arrival of the Marine Unit and the police Helicopter on Wednesday evening.

Searches continued from Wednesday night and well into Thursday night involving again the Marine Unit vessels, the helicopter and a USCG aircraft.  The Marine Commander, Inspector Yearwood said “We got on scene within a few hours of being notified of the boat being found. Once it was learned that two of the crew had gotten into the water we immediately commenced searching for them. We used all equipment at our disposal to locate the two men. The vessel was said to have been at sea for several days and with the large amount of marine life seen around the vessel it is unlikely we would still find them”.

It was apparent that the two got into the water to recover a package with life saving equipment dropped by the USCG.  They never returned to the boat.

The two rescued from the vessel were brought to the GT dock on Thursday morning where they were met by the ambulance and Immigration officers.  They are said to be in good condition. They were treated at the GT Hospital and later released.

Police and  Immigration officers are working together to making inquiries into the matter. The two are said to be from separate Central American countries.

Original story Thu (17)

Sea and air search currently executed for 2 missing men in Cayman Island waters from damaged boat

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service have confirmed an air and sea search is currently underway for two missing people at sea, just over 30 miles southeast of Grand Cayman.

RCIPS Chief Inspector Brad Ebanks said today (Thursday 17) the local Air Traffic Control tower had received a message from a US Coast Guard aircraft that had spotted distress flares from a damaged boat in the area at around 10:40pm last night (Wednesday 16).

The vessel had been located, the Chief Inspector said and two foreign national males were taken off the distressed vessel and transferred onto the police vessel, Niven D.

However, the two men said there were two other men missing in the water.

He also told CITN/Cayman27, “Searches are continuing for two other males who were said to have also been on the vessel, but had gotten into the water to retrieve a life saving package dropped by the USCG aircraft. They did not return to their vessel.”

iNews Cayman will report further on this developing story.

Only last January, 57-year-old jazz drummer David Byles disappeared while swimming back to the boat with his wife during a diving trip in the Cayman Islands. He disappeared from view about 100 yards away from the vessel.