A search in the Corentyne River yesterday for Cheryl Peters, who is missing and feared dead after the ‘backtrack’ speedboat in which she was travelling to Suriname on Friday capsized, was unsuccessful.
Police from Suriname and local boat captains searched the river yesterday for the 44-year-old mother of five of 335 Mocha Arcadia but stopped after the tide began to rise.
Another woman, Ashrani Hardat called ‘Buck’ of Annandale, East Coast Demerara drowned during the mishap and her body was found in a fishing net in the Corentyne River aback of Number 65 Village around 3 pm on Friday by fishermen.
According to reports, the boat, belonging to a Surinamese known only as “Amit” left ‘Aunty’s Boat Landing’ at Number 78 Village, Corriverton just after 5.15 am on Friday with nine passengers on board heading for Nickerie, Suriname. Shortly after it set off, however, the boat became entangled with a fishing seine, reports said.
Quick thinking by Hardat’s daughter Samantha Mohan, 26, who survived the mishap, led to the other speedboats going to their rescue some 15 minutes later.
Mohan told Stabroek News at Corriverton that after the boat started taking in water, she used her cellular phone to call the minibus driver called “Dougla”, who had taken her and her mother to Corriverton from Annandale earlier in the morning. She told him of the accident but before she was finished talking to him, the boat went down and she started screaming.
Mohan said she and her mother as well as another woman and her two children held onto a bag containing cigarettes and were floating in the water until help came. The other passengers held onto other objects in the water, as well.
According to Mohan, before the boat left Corriverton her mother kept asking for a lifejacket but none was given to her. None of the other passengers had lifejackets and the captain left in a hurry, she said.
The captain who was detained by police in Suriname for questioning has since been released.
Many persons opt to use the ‘backtrack’ system instead of the ferry, MV Canawaima that plies the Moleson Creek to Suriname route. One woman, who gave her name as “Mamzie”, said the vessel takes around 25 minutes to get across but the drive to Nickerie and then to Paramaribo takes more than eight hours.
She said the road has been in a deplorable state for the many years and no effort has been made by the Suriname authorities to fix it. Passengers have to check-in around 9 am with immigration at the stelling before the midday departure.
The cost of a return ticket, which is valid for one month, is $3,000. Further, she said, passengers are only allowed to carry 50 pounds on board but if they have more weight they have to pay an ‘overweight’ fee.
With the ‘backtrack’ arrangement at Number 78 Village, Corriverton, a one-way trip costs $1,000. The boats go to Nickerie and passengers travel less than three hours by road to get to Paramaribo.
She said most of the passengers who use the ‘backtrack’ route are traders and they just spend a short time in Suriname. When they return to Guyana the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) that has officers at both landings check their baggage and persons have to pay duty on their imports.
Fezal Mursaline who owns ‘Aunty’s Boat Landing’ with his mother, Shamira “Aunty” Khatoon, and who operates the ‘backtrack’ business said they have been registered in Suriname to ply their trade.
“The water is being controlled by the Dutch but the Guyana government collects the revenue from both landings so I think this government should stamp some authority and enforce the rules,” Murseline said.
He said the boats are not allowed to carry more that ten passengers, including the captain but because of the lack of proper supervision the boats sometimes carry 12 persons. He admits that some captains leave the shore without ensuring that their passengers are wearing lifejackets.
“I think that the penalty should be severe so that the rules would not be broken,” he said.
Murseline whose boats went out to rescue the passengers on Friday said he also assisted the Dutch police in the search yesterday and promised to continue. (Shabna Ullah)
