A boat with four fishermen on board reported missing since last Saturday, April 11, by the families of the sea-workers, who declared to the local authorities in western Falcon Sunday.
According to the report, the vessel, named La Gardenia, allegedly left the port of Zazarida with the four crew members on Saturday morning. Until Sunday at noon, nothing was known about them, so their relatives decided to report to the National Guard in the town in the municipality of Buchivacoa.
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The search at sea was immediately launched by Falcon Civil Protection aid workers in the area, some fishermen and relatives of the missing, identified as Jose Rafael Delgado Nava, Jose Enrique Delgado Nava, 22 and 21 years old, respectively; the captain of La Gardenia Deivis Acosta, 29 years old, and the teenager Luis Enrique Delgado, 16 years old.
Relatives hope that the four fishermen will be rescued alive and that only a mechanical failure or lack of fuel has left them adrift because they did not supply the crag with gasoline due to government restrictions.
Falcon situation
Dozens of Venezuelans have lost at sea in the Falcon coast, trying to reach the islands of Aruba and Curacao by boat, as part of the largest exodus in the history of the Western Hemisphere of about 5 million Venezuelan migrants.
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Earlier this year, before the Coronavirus outbreak, local authorities arrested members of a network of human smugglers who allegedly arranged for Venezuelan illegal migrants to travel to the Dutch Caribbean islands by boat in exchange for hefty payments in dollars or euros.
Drug trafficking is also a concern in the waters that separate Falcon and the Caribbean islands, with forces from the U.S, and another 22 countries, conducting a series of operations in that area to stop the illicit trade.
