An 11-year-old boy has died after breaking his neck while playing with siblings in a hammock, at Port Kaituma.
Fabian Sam, of Four Miles, Port Kaituma, died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Saturday afternoon while receiving treatment for a broken neck, in a case that shocked his community.
According to reports from the Region One community, Sam, who is a student of the Port Kaituma Primary School, was playing with his siblings in the upper flat of their home on Friday when an older sibling informed his mother that he had hurt himself.
The woman, who was downstairs at the time, ran to her son’s aid and found him in an unconscious state in the hammock.
A resident told Stabroek News yesterday that the boy’s siblings were “spinning” him around in the hammock and during this activity Sam’s neck was caught between the strings which connected the hammock to the rope. After some time awaiting transportation, the boy was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Sam, who was awaiting the results of the National Grade Six Examinations, was air dashed from the community to Georgetown the following morning.
However, he died while receiving treatment, a hospital source disclosed yesterday.
According to a resident, the incident left the community in shock and several persons raised questions about the nature of the boy’s death. Many in the community did not believe the explanation provided by the child’s mother, the resident said.
A post-mortem examination, which, is scheduled to be performed on Sam’s body tomorrow, is expected to shed more light on the circumstances of his death.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News has been told that the child’s parents are experiencing difficulty in sourcing the $100,000 fee to transport their son’s remains to the North West District (NWD) community later this week. This newspaper understands that the Amerindian Affairs Ministry ceased taking financial responsibility for transporting bodies into the area some time ago.
The young man’s mother is currently accommodated at the Amerindian Hostel in the city. Attempts by this newspaper to contact her yesterday were unsuccessful.
