A watchman at the Meadowbank wharf was rescued from the Demerara River last night after he was knocked overboard during a misunderstanding with a colleague.
Lincoln Gordon of Market Road, Annandale East Coast Demerara was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital in an unconscious state. He was bleeding from a wound in his head and up to press time was receiving treatment. His condition was listed as stable.
Stabroek News spoke with one of the men who accompanied Gordon to the hospital who related that Gordon was involved in a row with another watchman at the wharf when the incident happened.
He explained that Gordon was on the early shift and was preparing to leave when the other watchman arrived and noticed that a boat had docked close by to where they work.
The watchman chided Gordon for allowing the boat to be there and an argument erupted. It was while they were quarrelling that the man armed himself with a piece of wood and lashed Gordon in the head.
“When he lash he the blow knock he unconscious and then he fall in de river. We stand up there and witness it but we couldn’t go fuh he right away,” the man related.
He said the man who lashed Gordon threatened to chop up anyone who went to rescue him so they all stood there for about three minutes until he could not take it anyone and he plunged into the river in search of Gordon. After a short while, he found him and pulled him out.
The man said when they came up the other watchman was gone and they managed to get Gordon into a car and rush him to the city. He said Gordon was not the type of man who got into fights and he easily ended up being the victim whenever he was involved in something.