About: What Happened
What Happened
Updated July 19, 2011 - On Sunday, July 3rd, 2011, around 2:00 a.m. a fishing boat, the Erik, capsized 60-100 miles south of San Felipe and 2 miles off Mexico's Baja coast. There were 43 passengers in total, 27 American tourists and 16 crewmembers, on board. To date, all except seven have been accounted for; some survivors were found along the coast as far down as Bahia de Los Angeles.
Following the accident, a group of the survivors stayed in Mexico, putting aside their recent experience, to help search the waters and coastline for their missing friends. In addition to the waters and islands south of San Felipe, which is very popular for fishing excursions, the families needed help searching the areas along the coast, water and land; including help from local people and other tourists. The land areas where some of the survivors were rescued are very rural and uninhabited; without easy access to communication sources. Reliable sources told the families that the local people were using their own time and gas to help with the search. Initially, the search and rescue (SAR) window was 96 hours, which would halt the SAR at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 7th.
During this time (and before the 96 hour deadline), the families of the seven missing men began a grassroots effort to get the SAR window extended. This effort included contacting media, contacting elected officials and finding support from others. The result of attempting to find support from others resulted in the creation of the Find our Fathers Facebook page, the www.findourfathers.blogspot.com, the Find our Fathers Twitter account, and then eventually leading to the creation of this website. With an unknown number of days remaining for the SAR effort, the seven families needed all the help they could get.
Find our Fathers was triumphant getting the SAR window extended.
Here are the facts of the SAR efforts that were given to the seven families: (1) families were assured by the American Consulate and the governor of Mexico that the search for missing men will continue. (2) the Mexican Navy lead the SAR effort, with the U.S. Coast Guard’s cooperative assistance of a C130 for aerial coverage. The families were given a search grid of what the U.S. Coast Guard was using, and was able to influence the SAR to move further south towards La Paz.
Following the accident, a group of the survivors stayed in Mexico, putting aside their recent experience, to help search the waters and coastline for their missing friends. In addition to the waters and islands south of San Felipe, which is very popular for fishing excursions, the families needed help searching the areas along the coast, water and land; including help from local people and other tourists. The land areas where some of the survivors were rescued are very rural and uninhabited; without easy access to communication sources. Reliable sources told the families that the local people were using their own time and gas to help with the search. Initially, the search and rescue (SAR) window was 96 hours, which would halt the SAR at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 7th.
During this time (and before the 96 hour deadline), the families of the seven missing men began a grassroots effort to get the SAR window extended. This effort included contacting media, contacting elected officials and finding support from others. The result of attempting to find support from others resulted in the creation of the Find our Fathers Facebook page, the www.findourfathers.blogspot.com, the Find our Fathers Twitter account, and then eventually leading to the creation of this website. With an unknown number of days remaining for the SAR effort, the seven families needed all the help they could get.
Find our Fathers was triumphant getting the SAR window extended.
Here are the facts of the SAR efforts that were given to the seven families: (1) families were assured by the American Consulate and the governor of Mexico that the search for missing men will continue. (2) the Mexican Navy lead the SAR effort, with the U.S. Coast Guard’s cooperative assistance of a C130 for aerial coverage. The families were given a search grid of what the U.S. Coast Guard was using, and was able to influence the SAR to move further south towards La Paz.
Since the SAR was to continue, the end date not known to the families, Find our Fathers changed focus to get a dive team down to see if any of the missing men went down with the wreckage. The families were hoping that the SAR and dive could be simultaneous, but were told that for political reasons, these two activities were only performed subsequently.
The first hurdle to achieve the dive was that the Mexican government had to formally request assistance from the U.S. government since they don’t have the capacity for a complex dive of this nature (the wreckage was estimated to be about 200+ feet down). The second hurdle was to get the Department of Defense to formally approve the dive.
On Tuesday, July 12th, the SAR effort was formally terminated and the Department of Defense formally denied the dive.
Find our Fathers and all of our supporters were outraged and shocked… The seven missing men are Americans, two of which are U.S. veterans! If this was one of the elected officials' or D.O.D.'s family members, there would not be a question as whether or not the dive would be approved by the D.O.D. These seven missing men are honorable, law-abiding American citizens; who worked to support their families and who pay their taxes! If American citizens cannot depend on the U.S. government to help them in times like these, how can the American people trust the government at all? Where is all of our tax money going, if not to help these Americans and bring closure to their families?
We must maintain hope! Find our Fathers will not go away.
With the support of many; family, friends and even strangers; many fundraising events are being coordinated to cover the cost of a self-funded dive expedition (estimated to be $300,000). In conjunction, we continue to urge the Department of Defense or any other entity in government to get a dive approved. Please check back often! We need your support! Help us send a message to our elected officials…We are not going away!
The first hurdle to achieve the dive was that the Mexican government had to formally request assistance from the U.S. government since they don’t have the capacity for a complex dive of this nature (the wreckage was estimated to be about 200+ feet down). The second hurdle was to get the Department of Defense to formally approve the dive.
On Tuesday, July 12th, the SAR effort was formally terminated and the Department of Defense formally denied the dive.
Find our Fathers and all of our supporters were outraged and shocked… The seven missing men are Americans, two of which are U.S. veterans! If this was one of the elected officials' or D.O.D.'s family members, there would not be a question as whether or not the dive would be approved by the D.O.D. These seven missing men are honorable, law-abiding American citizens; who worked to support their families and who pay their taxes! If American citizens cannot depend on the U.S. government to help them in times like these, how can the American people trust the government at all? Where is all of our tax money going, if not to help these Americans and bring closure to their families?
We must maintain hope! Find our Fathers will not go away.
With the support of many; family, friends and even strangers; many fundraising events are being coordinated to cover the cost of a self-funded dive expedition (estimated to be $300,000). In conjunction, we continue to urge the Department of Defense or any other entity in government to get a dive approved. Please check back often! We need your support! Help us send a message to our elected officials…We are not going away!
