MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's Navy searched for a second day for two missing sailboats carrying nine people bound for Cuba with humanitarian aid, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
The announcement came after reports that the ships had been found by the U.S. Coast Guard. Mexican authorities said Thursday the vessels departed from Isla Mujeres in southern Mexico on March 20.
The disappearance comes as an increasing number of countries and aid
organizations send shipments of aid to Cuba as a U.S. fuel blockade causes crippling blackouts and pushes the Caribbean nation to the brink of collapse. The loss of contact with the vessels has fueled concern in Cuba, Mexico and beyond.
“From our country, we are doing everything possible in the search and rescue of these brothers in struggle,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote in a social media post on Friday.
Despite reports that the ships had been found by the U.S. Coast Guard, Mexico's Navy said authorities have received no communication or confirmation of the vessels’ arrival in Cuba. The U.S. Coast Guard told AP they were not involved in search efforts.
On Friday, the organization Nuestra América Convoy, said that based on the speed of the vessels reported to the Cuban maritime authorities, the window of arrival for the boats in Havana should be between Friday and Saturday. The organization made an open call for any information or sightings of the boats.
The captains and crews are experienced sailors, and both vessels are equipped with appropriate safety systems and signaling equipment.
"We are cooperating fully with the authorities and remain confident in the crews’ ability to reach Havana safely," the organization said in a statement.
A first vessel from the Convoy Nuestra América, carrying 14 tons of food and medicine, 73 solar panels and about a dozen bicycles, arrived in Havana on Tuesday.
As part of the search efforts, the Mexican navy alerted naval commands in Isla Mujeres and Yucalpetén, as well as naval search, rescue and surveillance stations. It also worked with maritime rescue coordination centers in Poland, France, Cuba and the United States, along with diplomatic representatives from the countries of origin of those on board.
Search operations involve navy vessels and Persuader-type aircraft, which are carrying out maritime and aerial search patterns along the estimated route between Isla Mujeres and Havana. The efforts take into account possible course changes, as well as prevailing weather conditions and ocean currents in the region.
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