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An extensive search by the Honduran Navy, the United States Military and Coast Guard as well as the Belize National Coast Guard has been underway since the start of the week. They are looking for forty nine year old U.S. citizen, Joseph Dunsavage, a mortgage company manager from New Jersey who travelled to Roatan, Honduras on Saturday for a vacation. On Sunday Dunsavage boarded a small white catamaran to fish but two hundred yards from the beach, he ran into problems and the boat begun drift southwest towards Belize or the Honduran mainland. Around seven thirty on Monday morning the U.S. Embassy contacted the Belize National Coast Guard to assist in the search. Today, operations manager, Lt. Gregory Soberanis, told 7News about the ongoing efforts to find Joseph Dunsavage.

Lt. Gregory Soberanis, Operations Manager – Coast Guard
“He is travelling in a 12 feet pontoon type catamaran with a blue canopy and there is a 9 horsepower outboard engine attached to the vessel.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
How likely is it for Joseph Dunsavage and his vessel to show up in our waters?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“There is a high possibility that he may have drifted into our waters and as a result this is why the Commandant of the Coast Guard has given directive to us to assist in the search.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
He’s been missing since Sunday. How likely is it he may still be alive?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“Well the possibility of his surviving still exists. This is why we are continuing with the efforts to try to locate him in our waters.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
What do you know happened to Mr. Dunsavage?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“The information that we received is that he experienced engine failure while out on his vessel and as a result drifted and based on the calculation that was conducted, it is believed that he drifted into Belizean waters, into Belizean territory.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
So what areas have we been searching?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“For the past three days we’ve searched a large area. We’ve conducted search along all the way covering Glover’s Reef, Sapodilla Caye Range, all the way down south in our Belizean airspace adjacent to our Guatemalan neighbours. We’ve covered the Turneffe Islands so it is an extensive aerial search that has been conducted over the past three days.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
Do we know what are the concerns right now coming from the US Coast Guard as well as from the Belize Coast Guard?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“Well at this time the concern is that he is probably running out of water and as the days go by, you know the exposure to the heat. So all those factors play into his chances of surviving the elements out there.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
How long will the Belize National Coast Guard continue the search?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“We will continue to assist with the efforts. The Commandant has directed us to continue to assist with the efforts until the directive has given to cease from searching any further. But until that directive has been given from higher authorities, the Belize Coast Guard as directed by the Commandant will continue to assist in the search efforts for Mr. Joseph.”

Jacqueline Godwin,
And the search is being conducted from both the air as well as from the sea?

Lt. Gregory Soberanis,
“Yes that’s correct. We are working with Astrium Helicopter, we have a person onboard doing the aerial search along with them and we also have surface units conducting a surface search. Also on standby in the event that Mr. Joseph is found, we can rapidly deploy to that location to render assistance to him.”

In the meantime the Coast Guard remains somehow optimistic that forty nine year old Joseph Dunsavage will be found alive.