Seven years later… Still no news of the missing vessel, ‘Dixie’

Feb 03, 2013 News

– Owner of missing vessel lies about vessel’s discovery
– Relatives of missing sailors seeking government’s intervention

By Romila Boodram

Relatives of the four Guyanese sailors who disappeared after setting sail in 2005 on the vessel Dixie are now seeking the government’s intervention. It has been seven years since their family members disappeared and their employer, Shirab Sears, is not willing to talk.
On June 18, 2005 Dixie left Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic with the four sailors, John Layne, Jay Gibson, Ron Medouze and Dexter Richmond, for Provinciales in the Turks and Caicos. It never arrived.
The vessel was reportedly carrying a barge loaded with concrete blocks when it disappeared. When there was no trace of the tug or the men on June 19, 2005, they were reported missing and Coast Guards in both the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos began an unsuccessful search for them.
After four years, Dixie was discovered in the ‘mud bank’ of Haiti but there was still no news of the sailors.
The discovery of the Dixie made headlines in several newspapers both locally and internationally but apparently, Mr. Sears was not keeping up with the news. Recently when Kaieteur News called him for an update on his missing employees, he claimed that Dixie was never discovered, when in fact the vessel was discovered since in 2009.
“Where you got your news from?” Sears questioned. “Dixie was never discovered and I will not say anything to anyone.”
Now, relatives of the missing sailors are shocked that Sears is denying that the vessel was discovered even after the news of Dixie was published worldwide.
“He is lying, he personally told me that they found the vessel,” a shocked Shonnel Gibson, wife of Jay Gibson, said.
According to the woman, since the vessel disappeared, she along with relatives of the other men would frequently meet with the owner of the ship, who would continuously tell them that a search is being carried out.
The woman recalled that in 2010, she heard “bits and pieces” that the boat was located. “I called Mr. Sears to confirm whether it was true or not and he admitted that the vessel was found,” Mrs. Gibson added.
She said that she even visited the vessel’s owner one day after he admitted that Dixie was found, to discuss her “benefits,” given that her husband had worked for a year with him. “He told me that the matter concerning the insurance of the boat is in Court in Trinidad and Tobago, and whenever he claims the money he will give the family a portion out of “goodwill.”
Now the questions are: Why did Sears lie about the vessel’s discovery to this publication? Does he think that people would have forgotten about the vessel’s mysterious disappearance and discovery? Why did he try to keep the vessel’s discovery a secret from the relatives of the missing sailors?
Was the boat’s disappearance a ploy? Will Sears ever decide to talk with the families of those missing sailors, some of whom pray every day for an answer?

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Seven years later… Still no news of the missing vessel, ‘Dixie’

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