Five people drowned, two are missing and one miraculously made it to the shore, after a river mishap that occurred just after 5.30 pm on Friday, involving a speedboat that plies the Guyana/Suriname “backtrack” route; the boat was returning from Suriname.
Owner of the boat, Roy Ramdass, 47, who was captaining it, was among the dead whose bodies were washed ashore at various points on the Corentyne yesterday.
The other persons who were on board the ill-fated Sevi 2 were Sheila Gonsalves, 64 and her sister Sherry Haynes, in her 30s, both New York-based Berbicians; their nephew, Henry Gonsalves of New Amsterdam; Indranie ‘Birdlady’ Motiram, 49, of Crabwood Creek; Ena Hope, 34, of Number 78 Village, Corriverton; Drupatie Bahagiloo called Nalini Ganpat, 45, of Hampshire, Corentyne and Leslie ‘Heads’ Austin, 25, of Number 78 Village. Austin managed to swim to shore after efforts he made to save the others failed. He reached the Number 63 Beach foreshore safely around 8 pm on Friday.
Up to press time yesterday, the bodies of Ramdass, Hope, Sheila Gonsalves, Motiram and another female had been recovered. Henry Gonsalves and another woman were still missing and feared drowned. Many persons turned up at the Skeldon Hospital Mortuary yesterday to get a glimpse of the bodies as they were brought in.
Reports are that the propeller of the boat became entangled with fishing seines and this caused the boat to capsize. Though the vessel was equipped with enough lifejackets for everyone, Austin, Motiram and Ramdass were not wearing any. Austin told this newspaper that he only put on his lifejacket after the accident occurred.
This newspaper understands that the boat left Suriname with 10 passengers but a boat from ‘Aunty Landing’, which was empty, stopped and collected two of the passengers after the captain realized that the Sevi 2 was carrying too many people. Stabroek News learnt that the captain also asked if more persons would like to join his boat, but the passengers said no and he continued his journey.
Francis Gonsalves of Holland and formerly of Number 78 Village, whose sisters Sheila, a pensioner and Sherry Haynes, a nurse of Brooklyn, New York were on the boat, said they all came to Guyana to scatter their brother, Hector Gonsalves’s ashes.
He said Hector passed away on October 6, and they travelled to Guyana last Sunday to fulfil his wishes of scattering his ashes in all the rivers in Guyana.
They had already done so and his sisters, along with Ena Hope, a mother of two of the Reno Hotel where the siblings stayed and his nephew, Henry decided to travel to Suriname on Friday morning to visit relatives.
Yesterday, Francis was trying his best to cope with the situation. He commented that it was already hard dealing with the passing of one member of his family and now he has to deal with three more.
Sheila, a pensioner might be buried in Berbice, while Haynes’s husband, Keith Haynes and her daughter, 18-year-old Jennifer are expected in the country tomorrow.
Ramdass’s wife, Meena, 44, told Stabroek News that her husband, who took over the business from his parents and had been doing it for over 15 years, called her just before he left Suriname. She said that around 7 pm after the boat did not arrive she became worried and sent out her sons, Ryan and Ravi and their workers in two boats to conduct a search.
She said the boats came in for fuel three times and each time she hoped that they would come with good news but her worst fears were confirmed when the empty boat returned at around 9 am yesterday.
When this newspaper visited the landing yesterday morning, a large crowd had gathered to offer their sympathy and support while Ravi and his workers were washing the engine from the ill-fated boat.
Over at Motiram’s house at Crabwood Creek, relatives were busy making a tent to prepare for a wake. Her daughter, Joy confirmed that her mother, who worked with a Surinamese businessman involved in the wildlife trade, never liked to wear a lifejacket.
She said her mother travelled to Suriname about five days per week via the “backtrack” route and normally returned the same day. When her wildlife worked “slowed up,” Motiram traded flower plants and frozen chicken from that country, Joy said.
She recounted that around 8 pm on Friday after their mother had not returned home, her siblings checked with the landing and learnt that the boat was missing and that she was among the persons who were feared dead. A farmer tending his cows discovered her body around 9.30 am at the Springlands shore.
Henry’s mother, Louis Benjamin of Corriverton said her son who was attached to the Berbice Bridge project as an electrician had been spending time with her since last Tuesday. He left from her home to join the others on the trip. He leaves to mourn four children.
Last year February, two women died in a similar mishap. Hansrani known as ‘Buck’ of Annandale, East Coast Demerara and Cheryl Peters 335 Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara perished after the boat in which they were travelling ‘backtrack’ from Corriverton to Suriname capsized in the Corentyne River.
That boat, which had belonged to a Surinamese known only as “Amit” had left ‘Aunty’s Boat Landing’ at Number 78 Village, Corriverton with nine passengers on board heading for Nickerie, Suriname.
Just as with the Sevi 2, the boat had become entangled with a fishing seine and capsized. In the February incident, none of the passengers had been wearing lifejackets. However, seven of them had managed to hang onto the boat and other articles until they were rescued by other boats.
Hansranie’s daughter had related that her mother had held on to the boat, but had drowned after someone attempting to salvage cargo had pulled a black bag over her head.
Peters, who was said to have been a strong swimmer, might have been attempting to swim to shore, when she encountered strong currents. Her body was discovered several days later, floating near Number 74 Village.
Following that incident, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee had urged Guyanese travelling to Suriname to use the legal Corentyne crossing. However, there have been no moves to close down the illegal operators.
