A 35-year-old tractor operator of No. 47 Village, Corentyne was killed on Monday when the tractor he was operating in a rice field overturned pinning him.
According to a police press release sent yesterday, Poolandai Ramoutar was ploughing a rice field which was filled with water at No. 55 Village with the assistance of Arjune Persaud when the incident occurred at approximately 2.30 pm.
According to reports, he was left under the tractor in the water until his employer; Seunarine Hardeen arrived with the police shortly after. He was taken to the Skeldon Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Hardeen told Stabroek News that Ramoutar started working with him recently as a truck driver before starting to operate the tractor.
He said the father of four was alone on the tractor when the accident occurred and although other workers were around they could not have done anything to help him. He said after the police arrived at the scene, the man’s lifeless body was pulled out.
According to a police press release, Ramoutar, assisted by Persaud, 35, was ploughing a rice field that was filled with water when the tractor turned over and pinned him.
The man’s wife, Rohanie “Pemmia” Anderson, 27, who is pregnant with their fifth child said she got a message around 4 pm that her husband was involved in an accident.
She learnt that his employer and other persons were bringing him out of the backdam but her brothers tried to prevent her from going to see him because of her pregnancy.
The woman said she insisted on going, still not aware that he was already dead. She said she it was only after she saw his body on a trailer that she was confronted with the truth and she started to scream.
The woman said her husband’s body bore no injuries and that there is speculation that he “stifled in the water and died.”
She recalled that on the day he met his demise she got up at around 4 am to cook for him and saw him off to work at 6:30 am. That was the last she saw him alive.
The family who is originally from Johanna, Black Bush Polder moved to their present address over three years ago. Ramoutar leaves to mourn his wife, four children: Sanita, 12-years-old, Ramesh, 11, eight-year-old Radha and Hema, six.
