Survivors feared dying in sinking for 2 Honduran boats

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Survivors of the sinkings of two Honduran fishing boats that claimed at least 27 lives said Thursday that they thought they also were going to die.

“The only thing we could think at that moment is that we were going to die there, but God is great,” said Dexin Ordonez, one of the survivors.

Twenty-seven people aboard the Capt. Waly died when the boat went down early Wednesday, but 58 others survived. Twenty-three other fishermen were aboard the second boat, Franceli, which also went down, but all 49 men aboard survived.

Ordonez was sleeping when his boat rolled about 2 a.m., and when he awoke, he was in the sea. He grabbed a board to stay afloat.

“Those of us who got out were saved, and those who were (trapped) inside, they all went down,” the 32-year-old fisherman told local media. He said he has been diving for lobster in these waters since he was 18.

Despite reports by Honduras’ military that the boat set out in bad weather, fisherman Axel Dereth Echeverria said conditions were calm. “But I think a big wave caused us to capsize,” he said.

The 27 recovered bodies were returned to port Thursday, while a search continued for six still missing a day after the 70-ton Capt. Waly went down in the Caribbean.

Some family members were able to identify loved ones, and the bodies were taken from boats to an area guarded by the military. “We want a rapid process of handover for the bodies,” said Lisandro Rosales, minister of the Permanent Commission on Emergencies.

A military plane flew in 27 empty coffins from Tegucigalpa, the capital, to the remote area in northeastern Honduras.

“We deeply regret the shipwreck of our compatriots in Gracias a Dios” province, President Juan Orlando Hernandez tweeted. “All our solidarity with their families.”

The president added that authorities were coordinating operations of search and aid for victims and their families.

Ana Julia Echeverria, assistant mayor in Puerto Lempira, said the survivors would be transported to their homes and that the dead would be turned over to relatives once forensic records were completed.

“To all the families, don’t worry. All the sailors who are coming — those who survived and those who didn’t — we are going to take them to their homes,” Echeverria said.

The Capt. Waly sank near Cayo Gorda, a cay about 75 miles offshore. The dead were the vessel’s captain, a cook, a crewman, 19 lobster divers and five cay residents.

Merchant Marine chief Juan Carlos Rivera said the cause of the sinking was under investigation.

According to photos, the Capt. Waly apparently put out to sea loaded with small skiffs from which the fishermen work.

With more than 60 percent of its 9 million people living in poverty, Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and its Mosquitia coastal region is one of the most impoverished areas.

Thousands of men in Mosquitia depend on lobster fishing to eke out livings, sometimes spending weeks at a time at sea.

A boat’s sinking is just one of the dangers facing the lobster divers. Hundreds have been stricken with the bends, the decompression sickness caused when nitrogen bubbles form in divers’ bodies. Some are paralyzed, and some are killed.

Safe standard diving techniques call for a gradual ascent to the surface to eliminate nitrogen absorbed by the body’s tissues during a dive. The number of dives made each day also should be limited.