A hit and run boat accident near Charity, Pomeroon, early this morning has left one person dead and another traumatized.
Dead is 64-year-old Ishri Persaud a/k Rudolph or Lar of Grant Danielstown, Lower Pomeroon.
His son Sukraj Persaud, who was piloting the boat, was very shaken when he spoke to this newspaper.
Sukraj said he was taking his father to Charity around 04:30 hrs. He said there was a car waiting to take his father to Supenaam, as he was travelling to Georgetown to conduct his fishing business. Persaud had been in the fishing business for the past twenty years.
Sukraj, speaking in a low tone, said he was almost reaching ashore (on the left bank of the river), when another boat heading towards the lower Pomeroon and powered by an outboard engine suspected to be 75 hp Yamaha, completely ran over his boat. His father, who was sitting in the third seat of the boat, sustained severe injuries to his head and other parts of his body. “My father fell in the boat after the impact,” he added.
The younger of two children, Sukraj said he shouted to the captain of the other boat for help but the man just turned around his boat and head back to Charity, without rendering any assistance.
Both captains had lights on their boats at the time of the incident.
Sukraj managed to get ashore minutes after the incident and his father was rushed to the Oscar Joseph District Hospital, Charity, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Some residents living in and around the area where the incident took place said they were awakened by the sound of the impact.
One housewife said she was in her kitchen preparing breakfast when she heard the loud noise. “When a hear de impact, a seh something wrong. I lef me food items and went to the scene because people de already going too,” she said.
When contacted via telephone, wife of the deceased Kaywattie Persaud said she got the tragic news from the driver of the car that was waiting to take her husband to Supenaam. Mrs Persaud said she heard the impact but did not realize her family members were involved. “When I got the news about my husband, I could not move. I just freeze,” she said.
She said they were married for 33 years and had two children Chris and Sukraj.
Persaud who was the eldest of nine siblings has left to mourn his wife, children, grandchild, eight siblings and other close relatives and friends.
Up to press time no one was arrested in connection with the incident.
The police are investigating.
