Members of the Hunters Search and Rescue Team (HSRT) have joined the search in Tobago for missing toddler Angelo Tobias Plaza.The group arrived in Tobago on Wednesday night and met with the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) prior to conducting searches.HSRT leader Vallence Rambharat told the Express yesterday that their aim is to get closure for the family.
JOINS SEARCH: Captain Vallence Rambharat, left, of the Hunters Search and Rescue Team, speaks with Tobago East MP David Thomas at Goodwood Bay, Tobago, yesterday, as the search continues for Angelo Tobias Plaza —Photo: Elizabeth Williams
“We came in just after nightfall on Wednesday. We had a briefing with TEMA’s director Allan Stewart and the TEMA people in Tobago at 6 a.m. (yesterday), and we are here on the ground searching,” Rambharat said.The HSRT members yesterday combed the coastline along Goodwood Bay and in the vicinity of Angelo’s home in the coastal village of Goodwood.Rambharat said according to the team’s calculation there is a high possibility of sighting Angelo.“Now, we have had two experiences with drownings with toddlers since this team was started. Now we pride ourselves on analytics; the first thing we look at is after the briefing with TEMA we found there was a high possibility of a sighting, and the second analytic is that we did a walk from the house to the beach in toddler-style fashion and it took one minute and ten seconds...the distance is 200 feet and not 3,000 metres as is being bandied about,” he said.According to Rambharat, a toddler walking to a beach was possible. “Therefore, the possibility of a toddler walking to the beach in this instance is also possible, highly probable, and therefore we working these two analytics that we have done for the morning and we are doing some beach patrols, we are studying the ocean currents.”He said their focus was on getting closure.“The only feeling we really have when we search is to get closure for families. We stay always above the noise. Our strength really is in field searching, we are good with marine searches along the coastline as well, and we stick to that, we don’t hear any noise circulating around us,” Rambharat said.Since Angelo’s disappearance on Monday night, land, sea and aerial searches have been conducted.On Wednesday, members of the Defence Force joined in land searches in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tobago, Rishi Singh visited the scene yesterday and spoke with Angelo’s mother, other family members, and villagers.He told the Express that all efforts will be made to bring some level of closure in the matter.A senior police officer told the Express yesterday when the search was suspended on Wednesday, they received a call from Mount St George that the body of the child was seen in the ocean.However, when they responded and conducted a search, the body was not seen.The senior officer reiterated that the body of the child was seen in Goodwood Bay but later disappeared.The stepfather of Angelo said he was hopeful for the safe return of the child.Shannon Miller told the Express he remained hopeful that Angelo would be found.Miller was at the time assisting in diving operations in search of the toddler on Tuesday.
