Discover the Mia: Ratings & Maritime News

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The Jamaican cargo vessel, MV Paranga, ran aground about 2 miles southeast of English Caye on Monday, July 16. Local Newspaper contacted the Chief Environmental Officer, Martin Allegria, who told that the initial investigation done by the Department of Environment revealed that the vessel did not hit the reef as was suspected. He did say that they were to go back out last week to do an in depth environmental assessment to see if there was any major damage. Local News contacted Allegria yesterday and he told that the recent bad weather from last week prevented them from going out, but they will do that assessment before this week ends. And in relation to the Paranga, reports were received that it was allowed to leave Belizean waters over the weekend, even though the investigation hasn't completed. Allegria also confirmed the information saying that it was allowed to leave because it gave the Belize Port Authority, who is leading the investigation, certain assurances that they will return. http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=23028

Sometime around 9 a.m. at morning of July 16, 2012, the Belize Port Authority received a call which signaled to them that the MV Paranga had run aground at latitude 17 degrees, 19 minutes north, and longitude 88 degrees, 2 minutes west - or approximately 2 miles southeast of English Caye. They immediately deployed a team along with the National Coast Guard and the Department of Environment. All the teams involved made contact with the vessel and its crew, where they were informed that the vessel was attempting make its way out of Belize to Kingston, Jaimaica, when a navigation error caused the crew to misjudge the depth of the waters. Coast Guard informed that based on their initial assessments; they believe that the vessel did not hit any sections of the barrier reef, as was widely speculated. Also, the vessel remains intact -none of its cargo was damaged due to the accident, and none of its 13 crew members were hurt.http://7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=22958