Star Metro - Mexico searches for missing boats ferrying aid to Cuba

The vessels set sail last Friday from Isla Mujeres in Mexico's southeastern state of Quintana Roo, with nine crew of different nationalities on board, Mexico's navy said Thursday in a statement.

But communication with the crew was lost, it added.

The Nuestra America Convoy said earlier that it would use air, land and sea to deliver food, medicine and supplies to the communist island which has risked being plunged into darkness since US President Donald Trump vowed in January to starve it of oil.

"Mexican authorities have activated their search and rescue protocol for two sailboats en route to Havana as part of the Convoy, which have not yet arrived," a spokesperson for the convoy told AFP.

"The captains and crews are experienced sailors, and both vessels are equipped with appropriate safety systems and signalling equipment," the spokesperson said.

While the convoy appealed for information on sightings of the vessels, it said it remains "confident in the crews' ability to reach Havana safely."

"Based on the speed of the vessels reported to the Cuban maritime authorities, the window for arrival for the boats in Havana should be between the night of Friday 27 March and midday of Saturday 28 March," they explained.

The Mexican Navy said on Thursday that there had been neither "communication nor confirmation of their arrival" in Cuba and that it had alerted naval commanders in the region and its search and rescue stations.

The navy said earlier that the boats were due to arrive between Tuesday and Wednesday.

- Cuba in crisis -

Since last week, activists from several countries have left Mexican ports on vessels loaded with food and other supplies for the communist-led island, which faces a humanitarian crisis in the face of a US-imposed fuel embargo.

The navy did not specify the identities or nationalities of the crew members on the missing boats, but said it was maintaining communication with rescue agencies in Poland, France, Cuba and the United States.

The navy is also in contact "with the diplomatic missions of the crew members' countries of origin" to cooperate and exchange information in real time, the statement said.

It said it was using aircraft to search the route between Isla Mujeres and Havana.

It appealed to seafarers and maritime authorities in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to report any information or sightings of the missing vessels to the nearest naval authority.

Trump imposed a de facto oil blockade on Cuba in January after the US ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whose government had been its principal source Cuba's fuel supplies.

A.Harris--SMC