The relatives of the four Argentineans that went missing 20 days ago while sailing near the Brazilian shores of Río Grande said that local authorities have suspended search efforts for the 12.5 meters-long sailboat they were travelling in.
“Yesterday a captain of Argentine Navy running the search informed us that the Brazilian Navy had suspended the search at 2 pm and that the Argentine Navy had to do the same,” the daughter-in-law of Alejandro Vernero, one of the four missing crew members said.
Isabel said she “did not understand” the decision, given that “on September 10 satellite imagery showed a sailboat up north of where the search is being carried out and that the area has not been checked again, after an initial stage.”
“No debris of the sailboat have been found which could mean that (the boat) remains adrift,” Isabel said. “Brazilian Navy had told us that as long as there was hope they would keep on searching,” she added.
Sailboat Tunante II with Argentineans Jorge Benozzi and his son-in-law Mauro Capuccio, Alejandro Vernero and Horacio Morales sailed from Porto Alegre to Río de Janeiro on August 22. Shortly after, amid a strong storm, the ship went missing around 180 miles away from the shore of Porto Alegre city.
buenosairesherald.com