Governor Tim Foy.
ANGUILLA--A statement issued on Tuesday, July 2, from the Governor, the Royal Anguilla Police Force and the Fire and Rescue Service states that the search for missing fisherman Oscar Ramos was stood down at 2:00pm on July 2. Ramos’ family have been informed.
Drift patterns indicate that Ramos would have been taken by the prevailing currents to the area north of Anegada, the British Virgin Islands (BVI). A request was sent to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force to conduct a search in that area. A description of Ramos has been circulated to the BVI and Puerto Rico.
Ramos and two other men had set out to fish north of Dog Island at 5:00am on Saturday, June 29. Ramos entered the sea at about 11:00am on that Saturday to swim to nearby Dog Island. The alarm was raised by a family friend when the boat failed to return by 11:00pm that evening.
A co-ordinated search involving the Anguilla Air Services, local fishermen, the Maritime Regional Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) in Martinique, the US Coast Guard Puerto Rico and French Coastguard vessel from St. Martin located the drifting boat with two men on board. The two men were then rescued by a commercial charter boat from Anguilla about 6:30pm on Sunday, July 30, at a location west of Sombrero Island.
Throughout the entire operation the family, friends and local community which have maintained a beach vigil at Sandy Ground have been kept informed and given support.
