Bodies recovered as search continues for missing people swept out to sea

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KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Jun 4, CMC – The bodies of two people were recovered on Monday, but the search is continuing for two others, who were swept out to sea while on a beach in south east of the island on Sunday, nearly one year after six people in a speedboat travelling from Canouan to Mustique disappeared without a trace.
Neither the boat nor its occupants have ever been found and in Sunday’s mishap Curtley Daniel, 29, his 10-year-old nephew, Jevorn Junior Phillip, along with 13-year-old Jonathan Welcome, and 10-year-old Isaiah Shallow, were swept out to sea while bathing at Breakers, which is notorious for its unpredictable and dangerous currents.
Civilian divers, who turned out to support the efforts of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard, recovered the bodies of Welcome and Daniel.
The Coast Guard said that visibility is poor and there is a swift current going in the direction of the open sea as well as a three foot deposit of seaweed on the seabed.
Jevorn Phillip, father of the missing boy told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the four were playing in the water when a waves came suddenly and “wrapped them up”.
The younger of Phillip’s sons and at least one other child were saved, reportedly when an adult instructed them to swim towards her, then snatched them from the water.
Phillip said he was not at home on Sunday when his brother took the children to the beach.
Meanwhile, David Cupid, father of Welcome, said he wasn’t aware that Daniel had taken the child to the beach.
“I never knew he took them to the bayside,” said 57-year-old man. He said he became aware that his only child was missing at sea late Sunday when villagers were saying that four people had drowned.
Cupid, a fisherman and diver, said he is very familiar with the unpredictable nature of the currents at Breakers, having almost drowned there about a decade ago.
The search is continuing for the other two missing people, with swimmers ignoring an uprooted Coast Guard sign warning of “Dangerous and Unpredictable Underwater Currents. Swimming not recommended.”

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