THE Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard were last night maintaining a search for 33 people, including three women, who apparently defied hurricane warnings and stayed on the Pedro Cays, the rich fishing banks off Jamaica’s south coast, despite Ivan’s approach last weekend.

“We went out today and we are going out again,” an official at the Coast Guard headquarters at Port Royal confirmed last night. “A recovery vessel is on the way.”

He, however, referred the Observer to the JDF headquarters for additional information.

Earlier yesterday, planes from the Jamaica Defence Force air wing also searched the areas around the Pedro Banks, which are about 50 miles off the mainland, Observer sources said.

In an unrelated development, the Coast Guard announced yesterday the rescue of three men, who had left the coast town of Black River, St Elizabeth, on Friday, hoping to ride out Hurricane Ivan in the open seas. An undetermined number of persons remained missing from that escapade, but one of them was Earsly Moxam, the son of one of the rescued men, Clarence Moxam.

Last night, senior officials at the JDF headquarters in Kingston were not available for comment on the Pedro Cays incident, but sources in Black River confirmed a growing anxiety in the region over the fate of the group who are presumed to be missing.

By last Wednesday, with Hurricane Ivan having already slammed into Grenada, killing 23 people and damaging or destroying 90 per cent of the country’s buildings, the Jamaican authorities were telling fishermen on the Pedro Cays to return to the mainland. The message was also relayed by the JDF Coast Guard.

Normally, there are up to 100 fishermen on the Cays. Most of them had left by Thursday, with the waters around the banks turning choppy. Ivan, harrumphing into a category five storm, was still a long way off.

Apparently believing that the Ivan warning was another false alarm about an approaching hurricane heading for Jamaica, the group of 33 appeared to have stayed, Black River sources and Coast Guard officials conjectured.

Some, it seemed, had played those odds and won when Hurricane Charley was destined for Jamaica last month, but swerved from the island. Jamaica has had similar near misses in recent years.

“Charley missed Jamaica so maybe most of them decided to take that risk again,” a duty officer at the Coast Guard headquarters conjectured.

In the other incident of the rescued men, the Coast Guard said that on Friday two motor vessels, Miss Rita and Ocean Queen, sailed from Black River for the open seas with the aim of riding out Ivan.

A report was made to the JDF on Monday of the two vessels, rafted together, and in distress about 85 nautical miles north west of Negril. A C130 Hercules aircraft was dispatched from the US Coast Guard Air Station in Clearwater, Florida and a search and rescue mission eventually located one of the vessels, Miss Rita, about 100 nautical miles northwest of Montego Bay, near to Cayman Brac.

The vessel was found drifting without power in 40-50 foot swells, the Coast Guard said. Three men were found onboard – Clarence Moxam of Waterloo Road, Kingston (owner of the vessel), James Heath of Alligator Pond, St Elizabeth and George Matute of Honduras – and were hoisted to safety unto the JDF helicopter, piloted by Captain Sean Reid and Co-pilot Lieutenant Jason Morris.

The rescued men were taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay.

The Coast Guard said they were uncertain about the number of men who were on the two vessels, but they had unconfirmed reports that Ocean Queen has beached in Cuba.

“This report is being investigated,” the Coast Guard said.