More details have been revealed about the six U.S. men who have been held in a Honduras prison since May 5 while working for Aqua Quest International.

The six men are being held in a prison in Puerto Lempira after Honduran Navy members and police raided their 65-foot boat and found a gun, Aqua Quest said in statement according to The Associated Press. The company, however, claimed it declared the boat's weapons to port offcials.

Among those imprisoned are Devon Butler, Nick Cook, Kelly Garrett, Steve Matanich, Michael Mayne and Robert Mayne, president of Aqua Quest International.

"We initially thought it would be over as fast as it started because they broke no laws," Stephen Mayne, Robert's brother, said in the release according to AP.

Michael McCabe, a filmmaker who has worked with Aqua Quest International in the past and was on the boat at the time of the incident, said that "the complaint is just that they basically had weapons and didn't have permission." He believes there were fewer than six weapons on board.

"The captain, off the Yucatan, has had to deal with people trying to board the boat," McCabe said, explaining the need for weapons. "He's had experience with pirates. The only thing that will hold them off is if they see weapons."

The U.S. State Department has confirmed that the men are in indeed imprisoned.

"There's been a lot of work behind the scenes to secure their release, and we thought it would be best to go through the proper channels and after all this time, when it didn't seem to be going anywhere, we decided to take a different approach [with a public appeal]," Stephen told AP.

According to the Tarpon Springs, Florida-based company, the crew was helping lobster divers with aid workers and officials in the town of Ahuas. The lobster divers reportedly face big risks as they dive as deep as 150 feet into the water.

"Ultimately the projects were going to provide some real opportunities, through flood abatement, for the local spiny lobster divers," Stephen said.

Ahuas is a poor Honduran town known for drug trafficking, but Stephen said the crew was not participating in such activities.

Aqua Quest International is "a private sector 'for profit' corporation ... dedicated to the search for and archaeological recovery of the world's lost shipwreck resources," according to its official website.
---

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

Related