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A father whose son remains missing at sea rescued four people from a disabled vessel south of Tobago on Thursday, the Trinidad Express reported. David Mc Lean Snr told the newspaper that he answered a request for assistance from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard while continuing to face uncertainty over his son’s disappearance. He located three men and a woman about 18 to 20 miles south of Tobago and towed their vessel back to shore in Trinidad. According to Mc Lean’s account, the four had gone on a diving expedition when their boat’s engine failed. They were unable to restart it and were left stranded at sea. Mc Lean said the Coast Guard contacted him about a small vessel reported to be drifting and asked whether he could help. He decided to make the journey, explaining that going out to sea could also potentially bring him closer to finding his missing son. While travelling towards the vessel’s last reported location, he received a telephone call from one of the people aboard. That person gave him directions to their position, allowing him to locate the boat. Mc Lean described the occupants as relieved when he arrived. After towing them ashore, he contacted the Coast Guard. He told the Express that all four were shaken by the experience but otherwise in good condition. His own family’s search began after his son, David Mc Lean Jnr, 27, and Kester Alexander, 52, left Scarborough, Tobago, on October 9 aboard a 24-foot pirogue named Predator. When the men did not return, relatives alerted the Coast Guard and undertook searches themselves. Neither man was found during those searches, the newspaper reported. Two bodies were recovered off St Vincent and the Grenadines between October 13 and 14. Their condition prevented identification, according to the report. DNA samples were subsequently extracted from both bodies, and a verification exercise was under way. Speaking to the Express on Friday, Mc Lean said he still had no confirmed information about whether his son was alive. The rescue brought four other people safely ashore while his family continued to await answers about the two missing men.
A father whose son remains missing at sea rescued four people from a disabled vessel south of Tobago on Thursday, the Trinidad Express reported.
David Mc Lean Snr told the newspaper that he answered a request for assistance from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard while continuing to face uncertainty over his son’s disappearance. He located three men and a woman about 18 to 20 miles south of Tobago and towed their vessel back to shore in Trinidad.
According to Mc Lean’s account, the four had gone on a diving expedition when their boat’s engine failed. They were unable to restart it and were left stranded at sea.
Mc Lean said the Coast Guard contacted him about a small vessel reported to be drifting and asked whether he could help. He decided to make the journey, explaining that going out to sea could also potentially bring him closer to finding his missing son.
While travelling towards the vessel’s last reported location, he received a telephone call from one of the people aboard. That person gave him directions to their position, allowing him to locate the boat.
Mc Lean described the occupants as relieved when he arrived. After towing them ashore, he contacted the Coast Guard. He told the Express that all four were shaken by the experience but otherwise in good condition.
His own family’s search began after his son, David Mc Lean Jnr, 27, and Kester Alexander, 52, left Scarborough, Tobago, on October 9 aboard a 24-foot pirogue named Predator. When the men did not return, relatives alerted the Coast Guard and undertook searches themselves. Neither man was found during those searches, the newspaper reported.
Two bodies were recovered off St Vincent and the Grenadines between October 13 and 14. Their condition prevented identification, according to the report. DNA samples were subsequently extracted from both bodies, and a verification exercise was under way.
Speaking to the Express on Friday, Mc Lean said he still had no confirmed information about whether his son was alive. The rescue brought four other people safely ashore while his family continued to await answers about the two missing men.
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