7 News Belize

Former Marine Missing Presumed Drowned In Kayak Incident
posted (April 30, 2014)

Kayaking is a major activity for tourists all along the Belizean coast – but one tourist apparently took it too far when he paddled to the reef. Â At around midday yesterday, Bradley Evans Josker and his friend, 29-year-old Wrangler Shane Leesman - both ex marines went out on a kayak. Josker told police that when they got close to the reef, they saw the water was getting rough, and decided to turn back. Â 

But, it was too late; the powerful currents pulled them out beyond the reef, where the kayak was capsized by the huge swells. In rough waters, they tried for about 10 minutes to get back unto the kayak but couldn’t. Another huge wave hit them, pulling them under, and Josker says when he re-surfaced he didn’t see Leesman. Â Josker then tried to swim to the shore but he was outside the reef, and the powerful currents kept pulling him back. Luckily for him, a woman saw the kayak floating and called the Coast Guard, which sent out a search team at 3:30 pm. Â They found Josker at 5:00 pm – 5 hours after he had first set out. He was completely exhausted and collapsed in the boat. Â The Coast Guard searched the immediate area for Leesman – but didn’t find him. Today, two Coast Guard search units were out on the water still searching but at newstime, they hadn’t found a trace of the 29 year old, described as
Caucasian decent, five feet, eight inches, weighing about 170 pounds.

Neither of the men went out with a life jacket – this after the security guard at their resort warned them not to go out because it was too rough. 

Josker was found 4.5 miles north of San Pedro Town. 

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