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Six years later…Unanswered questions remain for relatives of missing ‘Dixie’ sailors

Jan 15, 2012 News

 

 

By Romila Boodram
Relatives of the four Guyanese sailors who disappeared after setting sail in 2005 on the vessel, Dixie,  are still clinging to hope, but they remain frustrated and angry. The vessel was found in 2009.
Almost six years after the sailors disappeared, there is still no news of them.  The sailors – John Layne, Jay Gibson, Ron Medouze and Dexter Richmond – were manning the vessel as it carried a barge loaded with concrete blocks from the Dominican Republic en route to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
According to Gibson’s wife, Shonnel, since the disappearance of the vessel, she along with relatives of the other men would frequently meet with the owner of the ship, Shirab Sears, who would continuously tell them that ‘a search’ is being carried-out.
The woman added that last year, she heard ‘bits and pieces’ that the boat was located. “I then called Mr. Sears to confirm whether it was true or not.”
She explained that after she confronted Sears, he then told her that the vessel was discovered in Haiti since 2009.
Mrs Gibson has been seeking ‘benefits’ from the owner of the vessel, given that her husband had worked for a year with Sears. However, she told Kaieteur News that she has been told that the matter concerning the insurance of the boat is currently in Court in Trinidad and Tobago, and whenever he claims the money he will give the family a portion out of “goodwill.”
Distraught family members of the other missing men have also expressed surprise and anger that the vessel was found in 2009 and they were not informed.
“Why weren’t we informed? Was there something illegal going on? Was the disappearance of the vessel a ploy? Were the sailors hijacked?” one relative questioned.
Dixie was registered to KRS Transport Ltd, a local charter company.
The Dixie left Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic on June 18, 2005 for Provinciales in the Turks and Caicos, where it was supposed to arrive the next day with the load of concrete blocks. But it never did.
When there was no trace of the tug or the men the next day, they were reported missing and the Coast Guard began an immediate search for them.
Teams from the Coast Guard in both the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos have been at the helm of the search operation with support of the US Coast Guard. Local fishing boats in the island were also involved in the search parade.
Layne was the captain of the tug, Gibson the engineer, while Medouze and Richmond were the deckhands.
At that time, it was believed that the vessel could have sunk since it was new and may have been experiencing technical problems.
But even then, Sears was doubtful since he explained that the vessel was new and in case of an emergency it was outfitted with a new ship that had an outboard engine, in addition to a certified lifeboat and life rings.
It was also equipped with handheld radios and flares on board.  The fuel drums aboard would be expected to float to the top if the vessel went down.
Several efforts to contact Sears proved futile.

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