Search teams this morning found the body of a 22-year-old woman who went missing on Sunday after the boat she was in capsized in the Essequibo River.
The body was found at Parika.
According to the police, Michelle Benjamin, an employee of the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) was among 10 passengers in a boat which was travelling between Bird Island and the riverside community of Aliki in the Essequibo River around 3:30 pm on Sunday when the vessel began to take in water. The police stated that the passengers began to panic and jump overboard and they were subsequently assisted by persons in another boat.
Nine persons were rescued but Benjamin was not found.
When Stabroek News visited the home of the young lady at Gordon Street, Kitty in the city yesterday, relatives offered no comment as persons gathered to share their concerns with the family. This newspaper understands that the young lady and relatives travelled to the Essequibo River area on the day in question on an outing as part of a family reunion.
According to a Bartica resident, he was travelling to the interior mining community around 4:30 pm on Sunday afternoon when a passenger in the boat spotted persons “swimming” in the river close to the community of Aliki. He said that the water was rough at the time.
According to the man, the captain and his assistants on the boat pulled the occupants of what appeared to be a small boat into their vessel. He said the smaller boat was beginning to “go under” and once rescued the survivors related that one person was missing. He said one of the survivors recounted that the operator of the vessel had instructed them to “balance the boat” moments before the vessel capsized.
He said a search was carried out in the river for close to half of an hour but there was no sight of Benjamin. The man said the vessel he was in continued its journey to Bartica and during the trip the survivors of the mishap were placed in another vessel which was headed to Parika, East Bank Essequibo. The survivors later lodged a report of the incident at the Parika Police Station, this newspaper was told.
The Bartica resident said he was surprised that none of the survivors wore a lifejacket and he stated that the person who was manning the capsized boat was not familiar with the area. Other reports suggested that the man was not licenced to operate the vessel. It was stated too that the operator of the vessel was carrying out several unconventional manoeuvres in the river when tragedy struck.
The operator of the vessel is in police custody assisting with investigations.
Meanwhile, this newspaper understands that last Monday a passenger vessel which had moments earlier departed Parika for Bartica sank close to the Two Brothers Gas station along the bank of the Essequibo.
A passenger who travelled on the vessel on the day of the incident told this newspaper yesterday that the vessel began to take in water and the captain decided to head for the shore.
She said that many persons lost goods during the incident and according to her, persons have been complaining about the “blatant overloading” of vessels, most times en-route to Bartica. She said that on most occasions, the boats would be overloaded with mining equipment and the authorities need to pay keener attention to boat operations at the busy Parika port.
A few weeks ago, a Brazilian died when the vessel he was in hit a ‘pile’ along the Parika-Bartica route, which, according to reports, was invisible at the time to the vessel’s captain. The vessel, which carried the logo All For Jesus, hit the pile which was close to the river bank in the vicinity of Lookout and was substantially damaged.
