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On Wednesday, September 9, a major search operation was launched following a report that a resident of Saint Barthélemy might be missing. The man had last been seen the previous evening on the boat where he was staying. After three days of searching, the maritime prefect officially called off the search operations. The man was not found.
On the morning of Wednesday, September 9, the gendarmerie, the Fire and Rescue Service, the Saint-Barth and Saint-Martin stations of the National Society for Sea Rescue, as well as the Cross (Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue in the Antilles and French Guiana) and the Maritime Prefecture (based in Martinique) were all mobilized. On land, the gendarmerie is inspecting all locations frequented by the missing man. At sea, the water rescue team and the STIS drone technician are combing the coastal strip and the islets. At the same time, SNSM rescuers are combing the territorial waters in search of the missing man’s dinghy. This is because, when the gendarmes inspected the boat where the man had been staying, they noted that the small craft was missing. Furthermore, his cell phone was found on board the vessel.
The search at sea was extended to a distance of 50 miles. To no avail. “Finding someone at sea over such a vast distance, without any leads, is virtually impossible,” laments Julien Lestin of the SNSM. “It breaks our hearts when we can’t find the person we’re looking for.” ” STIS teams surveyed all areas using their drone. No trace of the missing person was found.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday, a plane took off from Saint Martin to conduct reconnaissance in areas farther from Saint Barth. Again, the dinghy or its occupant were not detected. On Friday evening, the maritime prefect officially called off the search operations. An investigation is reportedly underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of this long-time resident of Saint-Barthélemy.
At the same time, the SNSM stresses the importance for everyone who goes out to sea—even if it’s just to cross the harbor to board a ship—to carry a personal locator beacon. On several occasions since the beginning of the year, people whose outboard motors failed have had to be rescued as their boats drifted away. One man was found in the middle of the night in Colombier Bay, after he had just left the Gustavia pier to reach his boat at anchor not far from the Collectivité pier. Another was miraculously intercepted by a tugboat not far from… Saba. “People think there’s no danger when a boat is anchored in Saint Barthélemy,” explains Julien Lestin. “But even the smallest problem can become very dangerous. With the current, you can quickly find yourself out at sea. You have to take this seriously.”
