In spite of rumors to the contrary, there has been no trace of the 79 people that left the tiny dock on the Barracote River last 29 July en route to Puerto Rico. Neither the United States Coast Guard nor the Dominican Navy has been able to find any evidence of the boat or any hard evidence of a disaster. The authorities have alerted officials from the Immigration Office to see whether the organizer of the illegal and deadly trip, Maximo Jose, has left the country or not. The communities of Guaraguao, Barraquito and La Jagua are being combed to discover his whereabouts. Naval units from Samana and La Romana were searching the seas around Cabo Engano and along the Mona Passage. According to El Nacional, 30 of the 79 persons aboard the boat were from Villa Rivas, 20 were women and their ranks included a teacher, woodworkers, masons and students. These people paid nearly US$1,000 each to board the illegal craft. El Caribe reports that people in the area have tried to raise money to hire aircraft to search for victims, but their efforts have fallen short. Some community member said the Dominican Navy did not act for several days after being advised of their fears of a tragedy. According to El Caribe, the Navy is ill-equipped to carry out search and rescue missions. At the naval post at La Jagua, a section of Arenoso, the official in charge said they did not have a boat or any equipment to take on the task of a search. With some irony, the paper noted that the official said, ?We are not on the search because we are always working.? At the time, the officer and his men were chatting and whiling away the afternoon.