Units of the National Navy rescued five Venezuelans, who got adrift and arrived in the waters of in the department of La Guajira. Its motorboat 'Assul', in which they were traveling, ran out of fuel, having sailed from Puerto from Falcon state, to go to Puerto de Punto Fijo, both in Venezuela.
The Coastguard Station of Cartagena, received a call of the captain of the boat, reporting that he and four other Venezuelans were drifting for seven days, due to lack of fuel, and reported the position where they possibly were. When plotting this position, it was evident that the closest point on land was Punta Gallinas, in the department of La Guajira, 72 nautical miles away from their position.
Immediately, the National Navy began a search and rescue operation, sending a maritime patrol plane to look for them, which, after several overflights, managed to find the boat, 100 nautical miles from Riohacha.
At that time, the Caribbean Naval Force made contact with the merchant ships that were in the maritime area and, in implementation of the International Agreement for the Safety of Human Life at Sea - SOLAS, support was requested to the boat CGM 'Niagara', which was 16 nautical miles far from the castaways, it was requested to transfer them to a safe harbor in the city of Cartagena, where they received medical assistance and were put into custody of Migraci贸n Colombia to carry out the necessary administrative procedures and the coordination for their return to their country.
Source: Caribbean Naval Force
