The Tribune

By Morgan Adderley 

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net 

A RELATIVE of one of two men still missing at sea after a boating accident early Sunday morning said family members are holding on to hope the “good swimmer” is found.

Six men were on board a vessel carrying construction materials from Grand Bahama to Little Stirrup Cay, also known as Coco Cay, in the Berry Islands when the boat capsized.

Four of the men were found adrift.

The two missing men are reported to be Keno Smith, 33, and Godfrey Wilson.

Mr Smith’s sister, Venieshan Mortimer, 30, described her brother as “a lover of boats, lover of life, always the life of the party.”

“He’s very family oriented,” she told The Tribune, adding Mr Smith had recently been promoted to captain and was set to move abroad to take a job as a captain on a private boat in the near future.

The last time her family heard from her brother was Saturday night, before he left Freeport, she said.

When asked how she is coping with the incident, she told The Tribune: “I’m just keeping the faith. I know that he’s a good swimmer, he lives around water so he knows exactly what to do.

“We’re just holding on to faith. It’s just hard to hold on. It’s hard. We don’t know what to do,” she added.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Samuel Butler, officer-in-charge of Grand Bahama, said the four survivors told police they were transporting building materials when they realised their boat was taking on water.

“A large quantity of building materials— 20,000 eight inch blocks, several pallets of cement, and other building supplies,” he said.

“They got caught up in somewhat rough weather some 25 miles away from Grand Bahama. At that point, they recognised the boat was taking on water, because the material might have shifted (due to) the bad weather.”

ACP Butler continued: “At that point they made a call for everyone to abandon ship. One was able to take off a life raft. The boat almost immediately submerged and once the boat was submerged the lights from that vessel went out.

“And in the midst of the darkness, four of them were able to get the raft and the other two were not able to make it.”

The men then contacted the capital for help, ACP Butler said.

“They were able to get use of a satellite phone to get a call out to Nassau and tell them they were in trouble. Eight hours later they were able to get assistance. Other local and police vessels went out and were able to locate them.

“(Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association) BASRA and the police came right out in terms of diving the area, diving the boat.

“Based on (Tuesday) morning, the boat was still drifting in a capsized manner. But we were able to do preliminary diving around it to see if anyone got trapped under it.”

The search teams confirmed that no one was underneath the vessel.

“But the weather is still rough,” ACP Butler added. “We intended to bring the vessel to shore once the weather calmed but the weather is too rough to bring it in.”

When contacted, North Andros and the Berry Islands MP Carlton Bowleg said bad weather and the movement of cargo more than likely contributed to the accident.

He added that the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the authorities in Grand Bahama, based on the location of the accident.

Meanwhile, Mr Smith’s sister said she had few details regarding what took place during the incident, however, she said one of the rescued men told her that all the men jumped into the sea.

“But nobody saw my brother after the jump. When they jumped, they said they only heard splatters in the water, like other persons jumping,” Ms Mortimer said.  

“But when they jumped they didn’t have any recollection as to where my brother and the other guy was.”