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Sailboat Signal Blackout: Wife Vanishes in Bahamas
27 May
Summary
- Sailboat's signal went dark for 11 hours during wife's disappearance.
- Maritime law expert calls the 11-hour signal blackout 'highly unusual'.
- The missing woman's sailboat was seized off the Florida coast.
A woman has disappeared in the Bahamas under mysterious circumstances. Her husband reported that she fell overboard from a dinghy while they were returning to their sailboat, the Soulmate, on the night of April 4. The vessel's Automatic Identification System (AIS), which transmits location and speed data, went offline for over 11 hours, from 9:29 p.m. on April 4 until 8:40 a.m. the following morning.
Maritime law experts find the prolonged signal blackout highly unusual, suggesting it was intentionally turned off rather than a result of catastrophic failure. The missing woman's husband was briefly detained by Bahamian police but not charged. The sailboat, Soulmate, was later seized by the U.S. Coast Guard 40 nautical miles off the coast of Melbourne, Florida, in what was described as a complex operation.
