Sea search on for men missing from troubled boat

(CNS): The police helicopter and marine unit are currently involved in a sea search some 30 miles off the south east coast of Grand Cayman for two men believed lost at sea after searching for a distress parcel dropped by a plane late last night. A spokesperson for the RCIPS said Thursday morning that the local Air Traffic Control tower had received a message from a US Coast Guard aircraft which had spotted distress flares from a boat in the area at around 10:40pm last night (Wednesday 16 April). The Marine Unit and the police chopper responded and found the vessel with two foreign nationals aboard, who reported that two other men were missing in the water.

Police did not state where the men were from or if they were fishing, travelling or engaged in the illicit trafficking of drugs, guns or people.  The missing men were believed to have got into the sea in order to try and retrieve the life-saving package dropped by the US Coast Guard plane but then disappeared. The two men on the damaged boat were rescued and taken aboard the Niven D and the search is continuing for two the other men.