Residents at Kwakwani waterfront were in a state of mourning yesterday after a pregnant woman who lived on the west bank of the Berbice River drowned in a boat mishap while travelling with her husband and three-year-old daughter.
Giving an account of the tragic incident on Monday which resulted in the death of 24-year-old Rhonda DeSilva, her partner for six years Ivan LaRose, 59, told Stabroek News that at the time he and Rhonda and their three-year-old daughter Celene LaRose were paddling across the river in their family boat from the east bank of the Berbice River at Kwakwani when tragedy struck.
“We were more than half way to deh shore passing deh tug, it wasn’t working or anything when suddenly it start up and deh force tumble we clean out deh boat into deh river,” said LaRose.
He said at the time he was wearing a pair of long boots as he was heading to work. “All I remember was that we were struggling in deh river. I didn’t see Rhonda and meh daughter was going up and down in the water when Barkhai come and pull me in he engine boat then he collect Celene,” the man recalled.
At the time the woman and the boat were not in sight and it was not until fifteen minutes later when the barge operator moved the tug that she and the small boat came floating from under the barge named ‘Hururu -O4 Georgetown’.
According to relatives, including the woman’s mother, the rescuer said that he had passed the tug and the family in their boat and upon looking back he did not see the family who should have been in clear view because of the pace they were travelling on the water.
They said that DeSilva was seven months pregnant with her second child.
“The company totally wrong, they were never suppose to be parked (moored) here. All these years we living here we using this area and they never use to park here,” said a relative.
When Stabroek News visited the family yesterday the three-year-old was asleep on a couch at her grandmother’s home.
Several relatives and friends had gathered to console the woman’s mother.
LaRose arrived minutes later and upon hearing her father’s voice the child started crying uncontrollably until he picked her up and held her in his arms. Relatives said that the child was aware that her mother had died.
Residents said that though the barge and tugs now moor at the location they would sound an alarm before starting their engine but failed to do so this time around. “They were to have six men on the barge, one on the back on lookout but they only had five and telling we how Ivan wrong,” said a cousin.
LaRose said that he was visited by the personnel officer of RUSAL the very night and a promise was made to take care of all the funeral expenses. “Some others came this morning and said that they were giving us only one million dollars because I was wrong.”
Yesterday Region Ten Vice Chairman Byron Lewis went to the area to offer the RDC’s support and condolences to the family. He also said that Regional Chairman Kuice Sharma Solomon and the regional councillors empathized with the family.
Lewis expressed disgust at the company’s new practice of mooring empty barges close to the populated area. “They should be mooring these barges further down the river and then bring them to the loading point when they ready to load.”
The dead woman’s mother Rachel Van Lewin said that she was frustrated by the recent development of the new mooring arrangements of the company. “They wash away meh landing and everything. We had a beach out there, everything gone now.” The woman said she got word of her daughter’s death while at work. “It’s one of my cousins called and told me something happened to Rhonda.”
The family is awaiting the results of a post-mortem examination before planning the funeral.
