A post-mortem examination performed Friday on the three persons who perished in the boat mishap in the Abary Creek on Wednesday revealed that they died as a result of asphyxiation due to drowning.
The incident occurred at around 11 am and the bodies of Jainarine ‘Satesh’ Koshilla, 32 and seven-year-old Deanna Ramjit were pulled out a few hours later.
Sharda Singh, 37, of Number Two Settlement, Blairmont was pulled out of the water alive. However, despite desperate efforts by relatives to save her by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and “rolling her over to get the water out” she did not survive.
She was eventually taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital but died as a consequence of “delayed drowning,” according to pathologist, Dr Vivekanand Brijmohan.
Dr Brijmohan explained to this newspaper that the “drowning” was a result of “post-immersion syndrome.” He explained that “drowning by itself meant that a person may have taken in some water but may not die immediately [but suffer] the effects of delayed drowning…”
Deanna’s parents, Vijay and Carol Ramjit are making arrangements for her remains to be interred today at their home at Bush Lot, West Berbice, while Singh’s funeral will take place tomorrow at Blairmont.
The dead persons were part of a group that left Bush Lot around 8.30 am on Wednesday to go on a picnic. They travelled by land along the Onverwagt dam and continued on the “all-weather road.”
Before they reached their destination the wooden boat which they had boarded started “to take in water” and subsequently capsized. Rescuers pulled the other passengers to safety.
