38 Passengers Stranded After Water Taxi Runs Aground Near San Pedro

What started as a routine trip ended in a scare on Sunday evening. A San Pedro Belize Water Taxi vessel, The International Star, ran aground just off the coast of San Pedro Town. Thirty-eight passengers and two crew members were onboard when the mishap happened. The boat had left Chetumal earlier in the day and was headed to Caye Caulker after a stop in San Pedro when things went wrong. Now, the Belize Port Authority is investigating, looking into what caused the incident and whether safety rules were followed. Ports Commissioner Kaylon Young tells us more about the probe.

 

Kaylon Young, Ports Commissioner, Belize Port Authority

“As with the case with maritime casualties in Belizean waters, the Belize Port Authority investigates these cases, one to ensure safety, two to see where there may be gaps or lessons to learn where we can learn to advance and develop our mechanism. One of the thing would be to see what is the root cause of the incident, see if there are safety protocols that has been breached, see if there is any issues with the safety vessel itself, the master and the competence of the master himself, the crew members, to see if there issues in the navigation equipment. To see what areas of concern needs to be looked at or what caused the incident.”