Cops search for missing fishermen aboard canoe
(CNS): Updated Wednesday 9:30am — Three local men who had been missing for nine days after taking off on a fishing trip have been found safe and well and the international search effort has been called off. Police said the men and their canoe was spotted about a mile and a half off Kaibo earlier this morning (Wednesday) by the crew of a private fishing vessel. The Joint Marine Unit was deployed just before 8:00am and transported the men back to shore. They were met by an ambulance crew and will undergo medical checks. The RCIPS have been liaising with law enforcement and search and rescue personnel in the United States and in Jamaica following the report of the missing men, which was made to local police at the weekend.
James Michael Ebanks (above), Alton Phillips (below left) and Lyndon Banks (below right) left the West Bay area in a 32-foot canoe on Monday 8 April. According to family members, the men often stay out fishing for three to four days but when they had neither returned nor been in contact with family or friends by Saturday 13 April, a family member contacted the police.
The police said it was not clear where the three fishermen had gone to fish but the RCIPS Air Operations and Marine Units carried out air and sea searches looking for the men or their blue and white canoe. James Ebanks was previously reported missing last year when he and two other men left Grand Cayman in a canoe heading for Jamaica on 19 August. The men and their canoe were eventually traced on 31 August off Frank Sound.
Anyone who may have any information which could assist the police is asked to contact George Town police station on 949-4222 or the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777.
Category: Local News
If I was at water for 9 days I would have ate all the fish and everyone else on the boat. Stop judging people and worry about yourselves!! Jamaica is 180 miles SE and they were found north of cayman.
Funny how the family always tell the police when they are "quote unquote" late returning but never a word when they have left.
BULL SHIT! These guys are really lousy fishermen, or something stinks in Denmark. And it aint fish.
Well what I think u need to do is worry about u and your family and I’d u don’t have anything good to comment or say then just shut up I’m sorry but I am the daughter of one of the men and they weren’t found anywhere near Jamaica ignorance is a bad thing and u seem full of it!
So inform us my dear, and in English this time please.
That's where they were found……..but not where they'd been. Jamaica. Fact. Same old sham as the same old stunt they pulled last year. Just how stupid do you think the people of Cayman are?
Lol. Again? Lol. They ok, they just around the bend waiting for clearance that’s all. And hear this, no one would risk their life so many times, if assuming those missing reports connected to them were real before. So in my opinion, cry wolf once too much, you screwed out there now. But I feel they ok, they just being foolish and selfish by making people worry! We need to give them a good telling off when they get back though! And this go round, don’t send the reporters to greet them, send the bill collector with the rescue tab! Bet you then people will either start staying their ass put, or file a boating plan. But you know what? Don’t worry they got a capable captain. He know the waters around here, he raised on it. He ain’t no amateur seaman and he good at his map. May God bless em anyway. They’ll soon be home. It election season they know where the free beer is. They’ll be back.
How many of you that comment is a Christian? Stop judging I bet if it was your child or family member the story would be different! But no people can’t do nothing without you negative people having something to say! Find something to do with your time and stop judging and worry about other people’s business!
Either you are not from West Bay or not from Cayman…everybody who knows any one of these 3 knows what they are 'fishing' for…It's not judgmental when it's true.
What the police need to do is keep a close eye on them for a few days to see if they (or anyone else) heads out to the general area of where they were found. Might find a mermaid or something floating around out there…
Enough is enough…if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…
Wish u all would shut up n keep all your stupid negativity to yourselves not every time someone goes in a boat that it has to. Mean a bad thing is what they are up to i own a boat so I guess of I go our tonight n go missing I went do something …… No you weren’t there U don’t know so I suggest u all just shut up not because someone has done something bad in he past doesn’t mean everything there after is the same pole like u all who love to judge is one of the reasons cayman is the way it is today
Can you translate please – I got lost on the 3rd line
And if it looks like an ass n sounds like an ass then probably it is…..just like how u are sounding ….. Wether it was for what u are assuming or I’d it was just for fishing they are still human and was in need of help hunger and dehydration isn’t a good thing guess I would isn’t know and 2nd if this strory bothered you so much u should have stopped reading and not commented just pray and hope that if u or any family member of your own dosent go on the water and break down
How many of you: My tweet, she upset that Joe citizen make a negative comment on roguefisherman. Well my dear if the newss is correct, this is the second time this man have pulled of a search and rescue team from a supposedly fishing trip, yet they bring home NO fish. So what must we do, applaud them. Sorry Bo Bo not today
18.15..exactly..please stop writing daft comments on here and go worry about your own business if reading this bothers you so much..
Found off Kiabo, better check those east end beaches see if there any square groupers are washed up.
Lets just ask the Police to get a forensic screen of the canoe…..any trace of illegal substances or firearms should settle all this speculation once and for all
The last time they were gone for 11 days and returned without any fish.
http://centos6-httpd22-php56-mysql55.installer.magneticone.com/o_belozerov/31115drupal622/local-news/2012/08/31/5-missing-men-canoe-found
Now they have gone for 9 days and still no fish. It's time he finds another occupation. It would save this country a lot of money if we just made them Batabano Park Rangers.
That’s a great phrase ‘ Batabano Park Rangers’. Can I use it?
Gone fishing for some square-grouper?
Fishing for smoked fish:)
Lets face it, these gentleman are without doubt the worst fishermen on the planet…..
great caymanian seafaring tradition…..
You are clueless as to what is really going on.
Actually I think you are about clueless to his humor
What I see is someone who is so keen to insult Caymanians that he has completely missed what is going on. What you see as humour Caymanians see as insults.
Ummm…obviously the poster's point went completely over your head. It would only be humorous if this story were really about poor navigational skills or seamanship.
Did they leave a Float Plan with friends, family or Port Security?
Exactly. THey need to start charging these guys a real HEFTY FINE for not registering with Border Control before they leave. They do these things because they can get away with it. Changes need to be made, starting in the District of West Bay.
I agree with fining them.. They need to stop their stupidness. But you really need to stop picking on West Bay.
Everybody have some negative issue west bay yet they all moving west please
hold up one min isnt this James Ebanks that went on the other fishing trip too that stood up by the hospital and said to Cayman 27 that know one would ever see him go back out beyound the reef . What is wrong with these police they are either being assisted by someone here to notify the police once they have completed their jobs about they are missing thats just total bull wash.
Nah I think that was Travis who said that. And I aint seen him go beyond the reef since!
Fishing whilst in Jamaica. You gotta laugh. Then the 'concerned' family divert the emergency services away from where the real action took place off of Cayman. We know it was a sham, the police know it was a sham, the 'fishermen and their families know it was a sham but unfortunately the emergency services have to respond as if it was a real emergency. Cry wolf comes to mind and it will be other boats in real distress that suffer. Only in Cayman.
Any reports on how much fish they caught this time?
Can't fish on de marl road mon…
They found them 1 mile from Kaibo…what a crock of $*#@. I don't know of anyone as lucky as them to be drifting for 9 days, then drift back home. Is their boat a pigeon?
Since one of them has been "lost at sea" twice now, surely he will gladly install a GPS tracking system for his boat. Such systems can show, in real time, exactly where their boat is and work off a satellite so no need to be within range of cell phone. It would facilitate "rescue" in any future emergency.
Anyone think of any reason why he wouldn't install such a system that tracks his boat and keeps a record of where he has been?
Good comment but I think you mean EPIRB, it's a tracking beacon.
EPIRB only sends its position when activated, it does not give continuous positioning.
An epirb is a emergency response signal. There are spot trackers available on island for a reasonable price that relay signals periodically and allows to track boats movements. The marine police might want to buy some and hide them in certain vessels. Bring down SAR costs from the public purse
Why install gps, the idiot dont want anyone to know his where abouts. Him and his family both should be charged for wasting our hard earned money. Only in west bay
Say what u want to say but please shut up when calling my father an ediot it really pisses me off regardless of his choices so keep that word to yourself not appreciated and far as I remember takes one to know one
a true west bayer, for you info ediot is spelt idiot. LOL
What are the chances that they will one again rescue twoJamaican fishermen whose engine broke down and their boat drifted to Cayman.
fishing again! yea right.
Why do they have mug shots handy?
strange photos…….
canoe fishing to jamaica????
something very 'fishy' about all of this….. but then again this is cayman….where nothing ever makes sense…..
What a load of BS about fishing, stop insulting fishermen. Every last one of these character's pictures are police photos. These people from West Bay, with McKeeva Bush backing them calling for the removal of the chopper, are doing exactly what it looks like.
U speaking about people from west bay like they are all delinquents…well im from west bay, I dont support mckeeva and I probably make ur monthly salary in a week…fool
any one making that much money in WB is in on the "fishing" deal I reckon…
Wait a minute, aren't these the same stooges that were missing last year and somehow miraculously showed up after a few weeks in the very same spot from which they had left? I hope they are found safe but if so and it's just a matter of their adventurous spirits taking charge, then they should have to payall the expenses related to the search and rescue operation. Careful when you cry wolf too many times.
They need to stop WASTING Govt and people time. We all know what they are going out there for. Leave them and let them be. My uncle was part of the crew last year, and i told him that if he goes out there again, he's going to see how much family is gonna be looking for him. Go and get a job. Cut grass, rake yards or something!!!
fishing for high grade.
Does lightening really strike twice……? Just saying
Again gone fishing for square groupers and snappers… Oh we’ll… Be back soon…
Or fishing for 5 gallon buckets of you know what.
Comments comments let's face it what ever, they are three
caymanian men and only God and his mercy brought them back to shore.
Each one of these indiviuals were hospitalized and they could not fake this.
They are each a mother's child so stop the whistle blowing. Check the record for it what time was it fours hours and they were at some Beach Condo.
No with their seafaring talent and lack of support even though it was a life or death situation9
911 and other authorities were heartless. Some good Cayman fisherman still found them.