Stranded Yacht Looted In Haiti

Created by doina. Last modified on 2007-02-01 08:49:12
Countries: Haiti

At about 0010 on Monday 15th January 2007 the British yacht Aqua Symphony grounded on a reef at the southeastern end of Ile de la Tortue, Haiti. Skipper Lee immediately set off two red flares, the yacht’s EPIRB as well as MAYDAY calls on VHF & SSB radios. In a matter of minutes about sixty local people appeared in a flotilla of small boats and then proceeded to board the yacht armed with machetes, axes and knives. They then stripped Aqua Symphony of all fixtures and fittings, rigging, dinghy, liferaft etc. Lee and Margot decided that it would be best to stay onboard until daylight and managed to prevent the looters from entering the saloon.

At around 0300 water was entering the main saloon as the yacht began to break up and the crew managed to transfer to a canoe to get ashore. During the transfer, Margot's shoes were stolen from her feet and only one grab bag remained in their possession. This was the grab bag that Lee had strapped to his body containing passports, ships papers, cash etc. He also had the loaded flare pistol and three spare shells still in his hand, which he thinks was a contributing factor to their survival.

Once ashore they were forcibly marched to a house, and kept there, all the while hassled for money and valuables, until people began to become agitated about what the authorities would do if they were found to be "harbouring" people who had illegally entered Haiti. They were taken back to the beach just before dawn at which point a US Coastguard helicopter appeared. The helicopter received permission to land and took Lee and Margot to the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was the EPIRB that initiated the search; there was no response to the radio calls from Aqua Symphony and the red flares only had the effect of alerting the looters.