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Two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid for Cuba from Mexico that had been reported missing were located and managed to safely reach the island, as confirmed this Friday by the United States Coast Guard.
The information provided by Deutsche Welle (DW) brings to an end, at least in essence, the uncertainty that arose after the loss of contact with both vessels while they were traversing the route between Isla Mujeres and Havana.
According to a statement cited by DW, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report at 10:36 in the morning that the two vessels "safely navigated to Cuba."
The spokesperson Anthony Randisi clarified that confirmation, although he also made it clear that the United States was not directly involved in the search efforts, which were being led by Mexican authorities.
So far, no further information has been provided on the subject, nor is the location where the sailing boats were found known.
The disappearance of the sailboats had raised alarm since Thursday, when the Mexican Navy activated a search and rescue plan to locate two smaller vessels with nine crew members of various nationalities.
The ships had set sail from Isla Mujeres bound for Havana to deliver humanitarian aid to Cuba.
On the sailboat Tiger Moth were Leanid Pashkouski from Belarus; Nelli Butenko from Russia; Hugo André Joseph Boulé from France; Cornelia Pierre de Feijter from the Netherlands; and Alexis Laurent Bourgeois from France.
On the other hand, in the Friendship, there were Ira Jacob Moll and Adnaan Michael Stumo from the United States; Pierre-Luc Quentin Funda and Claire Florence Marie Guerry from France; and Ayla Wirth from Germany.
The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, publicly addressed the case during her morning press conference.
There, he explained that the Navy had arrived that same morning with a new shipment of humanitarian aid and pointed out that the search continued for "a boat, a small sailboat, two vessels."
In his statements, he situated the incident within the context of a broader maritime support operation towards Cuba.
According to the explanation provided by Sheinbaum, one of the ships of the Mexican Navy was monitoring the route of a freighter that did manage to reach Cuba, but contact with the other two smaller vessels was lost after several hours.
“She had contact with them, and after a few hours, she lost contact with them, and from there, a search process began,” the official stated, according to the content of the provided document.
The president also confirmed that nine people were on one of those vessels, although she clarified that it would be the Navy Secretariat responsible for providing more detailed information about the crew and the operation's progress.
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