By Kwesi Isles
A Guyanese couple living in Suriname has been missing since Monday after leaving to go fishing, according to reports from their relatives.
Michael Stanley, 50, and his wife Anjanee Ramkumar, 46, have been living in Nickerie for the past four to five years, related Biswajit Bisnauth of Enterprise Gardens, who is married to the woman’s sister.
According to Bisnauth, Stanley is a fisherman with his own boat and engine but did not go out often to fish.
He said he was in contact with the couple daily and that they had left Nickerie on Monday morning and were expected back around 1 pm. A search was launched around 3 pm after the couple failed to return and so far no sign has been see of them or the boat.
“We report to Suriname station and the police and the Coast Guard went out and they search and couldn’t find it.
Up to today (yesterday) they used the plane to search but they can’t come into Guyana waters,” the man said. “If the boat duck with them you must see a trace. Them ain’t see nothing.”
Bisnauth said the Surinamese indicated they would need permission from Guyanese authorities to extend the search to Guyana’s waters. He added that there was nothing to be learnt when the matter was reported to the local police.
“Me call (Number) 51 police station… and me ask them if they know the whereabouts of these two person and they said no. So me ask for assistance too that if they could go out and assist we to search for these two person and they said they can’t go in Suriname water.”
The couple has four daughters ranging between the ages of 13 and 30. The eldest, Jennifer, said she spoke to her parents on Saturday and everything seemed okay with them.
“Everything was fine with them, they does live very nice and does cooperate,” she said. She said her parents had been together for some 31 years.
The relatives related that Stanley was very good to people in the Enterprise area where thy lived before migrating to Suriname and that many of the residents have offered to help with the search.
