(De Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – In the course of the investigation into Sunday’s speedboat accident that claimed the lives of four men, police have uncovered some irregularities. The drivers and passengers of the speedboat and the pontoon it collided with did not abide by safety regulations. Winodh Doemé, head of the police’s Forensic Investigations Department (FO) tells DWT that the pontoon that was pushed by a tugboat was not lit, but the tugboat was. “This could have caused those in the speedboat not to have seen the other vessel in time”, Doemé says. He explains that the pontoon is 43 meters or about 141 feet long and was transporting an excavator. The tugboat’s lighting did not reach beyond the pontoon, because the light ray was blocked by the excavator. In Sunday’s accident on the Suriname River near Overbridge, the speedboat collided with a pontoon and tugboat owned by entrepreneur and politician Charles Pahlad. The son of Rayen Pahladsing, director van de SDSM, is among the dead. Two people have survived the tragedy. They suffered injuries and are currently being treated in hospital. Police and the Maritime Authority Suriname are continuing the investigation into the accident.
