29 Boats Sunk by Hurricane Otis in Acapulco Bay
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Three foreign residents were among at least 47 people killed when Hurricane Otis devastated Mexico’s resort city of Acapulco last week, officials said Monday, as the search for the missing focused on submerged boats.
Those confirmed dead included one American, one Canadian and one person from England, all of whom had been living in Acapulco for some time and were not considered tourists, local prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, the Navy said search efforts would now focus on finding possible bodies among the 29 boats known to have sunk in Acapulco Bay the night the hurricane hit.
The boats have been located and authorities were waiting for a ship equipped with a crane to arrive to lift the wrecks out of the water, Navy Secretary Adm. José Rafael Ojeda said.
Some Crew Stayed Aboard
There have been continuing reports that some crew members were aboard boats during the storm. Acapulco is known for both its abundance of expensive yachts and its cheap tour boats that carry tourists around the bay.
“As of now we know of 29 craft that have sunk,” Ojeda said. “A ship with a crane is going to arrive to lift the boats ... we already know where they are.” He said they hoped not to find “any drowned people there.”
Otis roared ashore last Wednesday with devastating 165 mph (266 kph) winds after strengthening to Category 5 power so rapidly that people had little time to prepare.
In previous hurricanes in Acapulco, most of the dead were swept away by flooding on land. But with Otis, a significant number appear to have died at sea. Residents have said that some crews had either chosen or been ordered to stay aboard to guard their craft.
A local business chamber leader put the number of missing or dead at sea as high as 120, but there has been no official confirmation of that.
Many Boat Crew Missing
Abigail Andrade Rodríguez was one of four crew members aboard the rental boat Litos, a 94-foot (29-meter), twin-motor yacht based in Puerto Marques, just south of Acapulco’s main bay, on the night the hurricane hit.
“None of them has been found,” said Susy Andrade, her aunt.
“She spoke with her family (Tuesday) and she said the sea was very choppy, and that they were going to leave Puerto Marques and head for the (Acapulco) marina to see if they would be safer there,” Andrade said. “It appears they didn’t arrive.”
SOS in the Night
Around midnight, the yacht appears to have sent out an SOS after being blown or fleeing across the main bay. There was no official word that the Litos was among the 29 boats confirmed sunk.
“Things don’t look good,” Andrade said, “but we want to find her.”
There were conflicting reports of the number of people confirmed dead so far.
The government reported Sunday that at least 48 people died, most in Acapulco. Mexico’s civil defense agency said in a statement that 43 of the dead were in the resort city of Acapulco and five in the nearby township of Coyuca de Benitez.
However, Roberto Arroyo, Guerrero state’s civil defense secretary, said late Monday that the death toll stood at 47, with 54 people listed as missing. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.