Lt. Elizabeth Buendia, command center chief public affairs officer of the U.S. Coast Guard on Guam, said their office in Hawaii will deploy a C-130 to help the search and rescue operation today.
“A CG C-130 from Honolulu has been requested and will join the search [today]. There are no other significant updates,” she said in an e-mail advisory about the search operation.
The Coast Guard dispatched a boat as early as Saturday to locate the missing family of Ray Quichocho — not the Saipan lawyer — upon learning that one of the engines of their catamaran broke down due to big waves.
Quichocho informed the Rescue Sub-Center Guam and the CNMI Emergency Management Office that he, his wife and their children — a son and a daughter — were leaving Guam for Rota.
His last communication with authorities was about 10-miles off the coast of Guam’s Two Lovers Point.
The Coast Guard said they lost contact with Quichocho before they could gather more information.
On Sunday, the Department of Public Safety on Rota reported that no boat from Guam arrived.
Guam’s distance from Rota is just 44 miles and the Coast Guard said reaching it on boat should not take more than 48 hours.
Buendia said anyone with information about the missing family should contact the Coast Guard 671-355-4910 or e-mail [email protected]” [email protected].
