Three more bodies were found on Thursday after another gruelling day of search and recovery following the boat accident which occurred at Crab Falls, Mazaruni, on Tuesday.
Jewan Seeram, 52, from Tuschen was the most recent body retrieved while earlier on Thursday, Christopher Ramnarine, 22, of Parika, East Bank Essequibo and Zahir Baksh, 34, from Kaneville, East Bank Demerara were positively identified by family members and friends. The total number of bodies now stands at five, with four more persons still missing. There is some concern that all those feared missing may not have been identified, and the number could increase.
Ramnarine was identified by his uncle, his aunt told Guyana Times. She said he was working on a fuel boat for over a year and was accustomed to the back and forth trips that were required. She said that he was not afraid of the water and he left home on Saturday to take fuel into the interior. “I heard the boat was in an accident and Chrissy pitched out.”
Early Thursday morning, the woman noted that Ramnarine’s cousins went to look for him after there was no news of his body being found. However, while his cousins were looking for him, Ramnarine’s body was found and was being transported to Bartica Police Station. Baksh required two persons to positively identify him because of the decomposed state of his body. “He was so beat up, and decomposed, there was a piece of wood through him,” a close friend of Baksh stated.
He noted that “there are so many things we don’t know and you know conflicting reports. But I saw [Baksh] and I knew what his clothes were and recognised his hair and there was a phone in his pocket, but he was looking bad,” the friend noted.
The recovery is ongoing for Rick “Quaco” Bobb, 22, of Kitty; Deon “Tall Man” Moses, of Bartica and Keanu Amsterdam, 17, also of Bartica. Amsterdam’s aunt told Guyana Times that the young man’s father left early Thursday morning to search for his son. She also said “that lots of people are searching with their private boats”, noting that family members were out in droves looking for the missing men.
The Bartica Hospital was crowded with eager family members awaiting news of their presumed dead relatives. A hospital worker told Guyana Times that the wife of one of the missing men was unable to convey her distress because of the language barrier. “She is the wife of a Brazilian man on the boat and he is missing too, but she can’t speak English.” The hospital employee also stated that “with all the confusion around this accident, it is so much to deal with all these people who are here waiting on results”.
The search operation known as “Hawkeye” was shifted form a rescue to a recovery operation on Wednesday. Guyana Maritime Administration Department in collaboration with the Guyana Defence Force will continue to search for the missing persons, while at the same time pursuing an investigation as to the cause of the accident.
One of the boat captains is currently in police custody. He is being questioned with regard to the “blind turns” that may have attributed to the accident and the subsequent suspected death of nine persons.
Friday 25 January 2013
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