Brandon Borries’ mother has been missing since she was involved in a plane crash on January 3 off the coast of Panama.
Sue Borries, 57, and Debra Velleman, 70 – both retired American teachers – have been missing since traveling from a bed-and-breakfast on an island off the coast of Panama back to the mainland on a plane that crashed and crashed. down.
Anthony Velleman, Debra Velleman’s husband, survived the crash along with the pilot and another passenger. Sue’s husband and Brandon’s father, Dennis Borries, had successfully flown back to the mainland with the same plane that crashed later with his wife inside it. Now the Velleman and Borries families are begging the US government for help in finding the two women.
“It becomes quite clear from their passivity that we will not get help from them,” Borries told Fox News.
Both parties have asked the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department to allow them to “involve a third party” to help search and dive. Borries says they need the U.S. government to give the green light for a third-party search effort before they can do so. The Panamanian government has already agreed to help with the effort.
“They are not willing to give us the resources, or at least it looks like that,” Borries said.
Borries says third-party investigation teams, often used by insurance companies to carry out the search and recovery process using sonar technology, “have made it pretty clear” that without the approval of both the U.S. and Panamanian governments, the process of locating his mother and Deb Velleman will be “very difficult and … can be very costly for the families involved.”
A State Department spokesman told Fox News that “the department has no higher priority than the welfare and security of U.S. citizens abroad. We are aware of the situation and are providing consular assistance.”
“At this point, we can confirm that four U.S. nationals were on board a plane that went down in the sea near Chame on January 3. Two were found and have received consular assistance,” the spokesman said. “We appreciate the cooperation of the Panamanian authorities in search and rescue operations to locate the two missing persons.”
The spokesman added that the ministry has no further updates for reasons of privacy.
The Borries family is from Illinois and has also reached out to various state and U.S. representatives and senators for help. Borries specifically named Illinois Representatives Mary Miller and Rodney Davis, as well as Senator Dick Durbin and Indiana Senator Todd Young as some of the politicians he has contacted for help.
The Velleman family, from Wisconsin, have reached out to their state representatives, as well as Senator Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.
Baldwin’s office told ABC 7 that the State Department “through its embassy in Panama City is working in close coordination with the National Transportation Safety Board and the USCG to support the Panamanian search operation.”
Borries added that representatives’ offices have been “more than willing to work with us and provide us with information”, but no one has “really been able to move the needle on the State Department’s side of this, which is where [the] hold up is. “
“There is no doubt about where the delay is. It’s on the State Department’s side of things,” he said.
While awaiting a response, the Borries and Velleman families have experienced a sense of frustration at the lack of urgency on the part of the US Government.
“This is really urgent. This has to happen sooner rather than later. It’s not something that can go on forever in our minds, and at this point the family is holding back with any kind of memorial because we do not have my mother’s body. , our mother’s remains, “said Borries.” And so for us, on a personal level, it’s very destructive [that] our government is not coming to the aid of a US citizen… because of a lot of bureaucracy. ”
.
