Venezuela: Search continues for a ship with 9 people aboard

Since late afternoon on Sunday, there has been a search for a boat to wrap in the port of Güiria in northeastern Venezuela. The ship sailed from one of the towns in nearby Trinidad and Tobago. There was a family and crew on board.

On the disappearance of a ship that sailed from the island state of Trinidad and Tobago on Friday and was to arrive Venezuela on Saturday after a hundred-mile distance, informed the Coast Guard relatives of the Venezuelan family who had previously illegally crossed the border to secretly supply food products before Christmas in the prosperous Trinidad and Tobago.

Many Venezuelans – on the verge of economic collapse and suffering from shortages of basic products flee the country ruled by President Nicolas Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to nearby Trinidad and Tobago.

In the region, there are a number of private boats carrying refugees (one way) and Venezuelans going shopping (there and back) in the ports of Trinidad and Tobago.

The wanted family was going to Acquire food and toys for children under the Christmas tree and then return to the country – writes AFP citing witnesses.

As of 2018, more than 100 people in the area have died as a result of maritime accidents. In December 2020, a boat sank with 30 people on board during its return voyage from Trinidad and Tobago to the port of Güiria. "Cows and boats are often loaded beyond measure, and their technical condition leaves much to be desired," writes AFP.

Of the 5 million Venezuelans who left Venezuela between 2015 and 2021, 25,000 people settled in Trinidad and Tobago. 16,000 of them legalized their stay in this 1.3-million Trinidad and Tobago.

Source: PAP