Sheffield man still missing on Cuba relief mission as search intensifies
SHEFFIELD — Adnaan Stumo, humanitarian and son of congressional candidate Nadia Milleron , is among the crew of a missing relief flotilla that was expected in Cuba on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Mexico has deployed search teams and military aircraft into the Caribbean with hopes of locating Friend Ship and Tiger Moth, according to media reports from the BBC and others .
Milleron said her son Torleif Stumo is in Cuba awaiting his brother.
Milleron said Friday night that her son Torleif Stumo wrote her, saying he is "in contact with the owner of the Friend Ship. He is not worried and thinks it would have been impossible for them to have arrived in Cuba by March 24 or 25, she told The Republican on Friday night. Previously, the Friend Ship has taken 11 days to travel between Roatan (an island off Honduras) and the Cayman Islands.
Torleif Stumo told his mother that "the owner informs me that sometimes the Friend Ship has only managed 35 nautical miles when sailing against the wind." The route they will have to take, because of wind and currents, is much longer, easily 400 miles. If they follow the full course of the currents, it could be up to 600 nautical miles.
"Taking this into account, it may take them about 10 days to arrive," Torleif told his mother. "They could easily take" until Wednesday to arrive, he wrote.
"We need to be cautious but also keep our expectations realistic," Milleron said last night.
She said the two sailing catamarans have two means of sending emergency distress signals that have not been activated.
"I am worried, but I am praying that because he has those two forms of getting emergency help that he is really OK, because he hasn't used them," Milleron said Friday.
Torleif Stumo believes his brother underestimated the length of the journey.
The Stumo brothers spent days in an Israeli prison last fall after their vessel was seized on a relief mission to Gaza.
These more recent ships, the Friend Ship and Tiger Moth, are among several vessels carrying supplies to Cuba after the United States imposed an oil blockade in January, leading to a fuel shortage.
Milleron, who is seeking the House seat held by longtime U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, lost her daughter in 2019.
Samya Stumo died when the Boeing plane she was aboard crashed in Kenya. Afterward, Milleron championed grave concerns about the Boeing Max 737 after it killed hundreds of travelers in two deadly flights because of its faulty flight-control system.
A judge approved a deal that allowed Boeing to not face criminal conspiracy charges over the two crashes and required the company to pay $1 billion in fines, payments to the victims' families and safety improvements.
Families who appealed heard case arguments in February in federal court.
Stories by Jim Kinney
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