ORANGE VALLEY – AT least three men from the Sea Lots area are now in custody following a pirate attack on six pirogues in the Gulf of Paria on Monday night.
Police have held the men and recovered six engines from the boats that were carrying 18 fishermen in four boats from Orange Valley and two from Carli Bay.
Reports stated that pirates armed with guns and knives boarded the boats and threw the men overboard, but left one of the pirogues without its engine. Another boat has since been recovered, reports indicated
Eleven of the men were rescued by a passing vessel while seven men remain missing.
Deonarine Jagessar, the brother-in-law of one of the missing men Jason “Trevor” Baptiste said the incident occurred in an area just off Point Lisas around 11 p.m. on Monday.
Christopher John, the President of the Orange Valley Pirogue Association, said the missing men were Baptiste, Anand Rampersad, Shiva, Justin, Brandon, Alex and “Shortman.”
Jagessar said Baptiste has a boat called Bula, has fished all his life and supports his wife and three small children.
He said today he went with a large boat in search of the missing men near to rigs just off La Brea on Trinidad’s southwestern coast. He said their efforts bore no fruit.
According to Fishermen and Friends of the Sea the stolen boats include TFCA 1099 Bula, TFCA 1238 Sunshine, TFCA 2784 Aaron, while TFCA 1343 was retrieved, but the engine was stolen.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Coast Guard at 634-4440, the Couva Police Station 636-2333or FFOS 355-7672.
This story has been updated from the one below:
