THE Coast Guard yesterday found alive and “in good condition” 39 persons who were feared missing on the Pedro Cays, but most of the shacks on the rich fishing banks off Jamaica’s south coast were flattened by Hurricane Ivan.

“The report is that everyone on the Cays is in good condition and the fisherman have reported that no one is missing or dead from the Cays, to the best of their knowledge,” the Coast Guard, an arm of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) said in a statement.

The Coast Guard had on Tuesday launched a search for 33 persons, including three women, who had stayed on the tiny, sandy Cays, more than 50 miles off Jamaica’s coast, defying urgings that they leave ahead of the passage of Hurricane Ivan last weekend.

Colleagues had apparently become concerned for the group, having not heard from them, in the aftermath of the hurricane that caused extensive damage in Jamaica.

A JDF fixed-wing flew over the Cays and the surrounding seas on Tuesday when pilots spotted life, but could not land to ascertain their circumstance.

The Coast Guard sent a vessel on the eight-hour sail to the Cays yesterday for an on-the-spot inspection, and found the 39 people, including two women.

“The initial report said that three women were out there but we only found two,” said Coast Guard Sub-lieutenant Aceion Prescot. “However, we understand that the other might have been among a group that returned to land on Tuesday.”

According to Prescot, during the airwing’s fly-over on Tuesday some persons were spotted on the Cays as well as in boats around the area.

“However, that type of aircraft could not make a landing,” he said.

Despite the severity of the hurricane, members of the recalcitrant group suffered only minor injuries.

“They (the approximately 100 fishermen who usually occupy the Pedro Cays) depend on us for their every need and nobody came and asked for assistance,” said Prescot. “If they had any (major) injuries they would have gone to our sub-station there.”

But Ivan spared only few of the fishermen’s shacks.

The Coast Guard’s sub-station, a concrete structure on one of the Cays, suffered only minor damage, they discovered yesterday. The station, evacuated at the approach of Ivan, would be repaired and sailors sent back there. Prescot suggested that the group that stayed on the Cays was lucky, given the apparent violence of the storm.

“The Cay closer to Jamaica is now smaller than it used to be,” he said. “There is damage to the lighthouse.”

“The mood out there is that the fishermen are trying to rebuild while some are trying to secure stocks from shops because it has been reported that persons had gone there to loot after the hurricane,” Prescot said.

Those still at the Cays:

.Ophelia Harrison

.Pauline Tripps

.Errol Tripps

.Kermit Williams

.Linford James

.Claudius Hibbert

.Donovan Smith

.Danny Thompson

.Wayne Dias

.Horace Bennett

.Jeffery Williams

.Vassel Chin

.Simeon Cole

.Fenton Francis

.Derrick (no last name given)

.Keith Davis

.Charles Chambers

.Carlington Perry

.Jermaine Wint

.Stanford Green

.Michael Mitchell

.Rohan Taylor

.Burnett Smith

.Delroy Brown

.David Ebanks

.Kirk Ebanks

.Manuel Felix

.Raphael Guerrero

.Peter Reynolds

.Stanhope Coleman

.Jeffery Blackwood

.Gary Ricardo

.Norman Watson

.Nigel Blackwood

.Harry Channer

.Melville Robinson

. Harry Channer

. “Prentice” (alias)

. “Bredda” (alias)