Costa Rica News – The Foreign Ministry had reached out to embassies in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and the International Search and Rescue Center of the United States, when a fishing vessel, “Apache 1,” was reported late in arriving to Panama City.
They should have been in Panama City by December 28th. The Foreign Ministry requested international cooperation in searching for the missing boat and sailors.
They were rescued by the United States Coast Guard, who were stationed off the coast of the Costa Rican Pacific. They came upon the vessel with four live crew members and discovered that they had been adrift since December 22nd, when a fuel pump malfunctioned.
“Apache 1” was found 100 nautical miles from Golfito Port in Costa Rica. The crew members had no medical problems. The Embassy of Panama in Costa Rica was responsible for providing consular assistance at the port, with the assistance of the Panamanian Coast Guard.
The sailors were then sent with Panamanian officials to David and then flown to Panama City.
The sailors were grateful to be given food, water, clothes, showers, and calls home. One of the sailors said, “Thank God! We shared a lot of joy that we were saved.
We are very thankful that we were picked up, after so many ships had passed by without seeing us.”
