7 News Belize

Canadian Woman Rescued In Belizean Waters
posted (December 6, 2010)
On Saturday, 24 year old Canadian Myda Egrmajer, 24 was rescued in Belizean waters after she and her father endured a terrible ordeal at sea.

They were attacked by pirates in the Waters of Honduras on Friday - while on their yacht. The father Milan Egrmejer was shot to death during the attack. It is still uncertain as to what happened, but from what we understand, the Egrmejer's decided to camp on a riverbank near the sea last Thursday -and sheltered in a remote lagoon called El Diamante - where boaters regularly overnight. At some point during the night, it is said that four pirates climbed aboard the Egrmjer's Ericson 35 sailing yacht and shot Milan Egrmjer 4 times at close range. Myra - his 24 year old daughter managed to chase off the assailants and piloted the boat - until she met a passing vessel that was heading to Belize. The Belize Coast Guard was first informed on Friday night and told Seven News today that Myda Egrmejer arrived at the English Caye channel around 5 o'clock on Saturday morning.

Lt. Gregory Soberanis, Commander Ops. Bze. Coast Guard
"Approximately 11:45 PM Friday night, we received information from police control of a incident that had occurred in Honduras waters, reference 2 Canadian nationals. In regards to the coast guard assistance in this entire operation was the fact that the vessel that retrieved one of the individuals was heading towards Belize. The coast guard was asked to board the vessel and confirm that one of the individuals was onboard that vessel. That was how we initially reacted and responded to the situation. Shortly after we received that information and we received the name of the vessel that had retrieved one of the individuals I immediately liaised with personnel from the Belize Port authority who tracked these vessels coming into our waters, we immediately located the tanker, it was a tanker 'Tessa PG' we immediately located it on the tracking system that the Belize Port Authority has and we were able to make contact with the master of that vessel. The location of the vessel was actually between 2-3 hours south of the English Caye channel, so the vessel was already in our waters. I was able to speak with the captain of the vessel who confirmed that indeed onboard the vessel was a young lady who was a Canadian national and the situation that he stated to me was that the young lady and her father was onboard a sailing vessel in Honduras heading towards Panama when they were hijacked by robbers, the father was said to have been killed, the young lady violated and they were left adrift at sea where they were later retrieved by the tanker that was bringing them to Belize."

Monica Bodden
"Was the body of the man brought into Belize City?"

Lt. Gregory Soberanis, Commander Ops. Bze. Coast Guard
"No, they say that they were unable to retrieve the body of the father, but they were able to have the young lady come aboard and bring her along with them to Belize."

"The expected time of arrival at the English Caye Channel the Saturday morning was at 5 o' clock that morning, so what we did was we liaise with the police department and we had their personnel along with our quick reaction crew meet the vessel at the English Caye Channel where the vessel was escorting to the port facility at ESSO actually here in Belize City later that morning. At this time the vessel like I said because the incident did not occur in Belizean waters it was left adrift in Honduras waters, that's what the captain of the tanker told us."

Milan Egrmajer was a semi retired engineer who had been sailing in Central American waters since 2008.

Myda left the country to return to Canada today. The incident we stress did not occur in Belizean waters….

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