Honduran fishing vessel fire leaves one dead and one missing

An explosion in the engine room of the shrimp trawler ‘Miss Georgina’ caused a fire in the Honduran Caribbean early Sunday morning, resulting in one death and one person missing.

The incident occurred approximately 37 nautical miles from the Caratasca bar in the Gracias a Dios department. The vessel’s captain, identified as Sixto Bernárdez Mauricio, died during the emergency. Five other crew members—Ricardo Castillo Marín, Juan Fernando David Castillo, Hermenegildo David Cálix, Ceuber Gómez Pinace, and Clotilde Jacinto Guevara—were rescued by another vessel belonging to the same owner.

The survivors are being transported to Roatán for medical attention. The Merchant Marine and the Honduran Naval Force are coordinating search efforts to locate the missing crew member and are investigating the exact cause of the engine room explosion.