The cook for a cargo ship is missing and feared dead after the vessel capsized in the Demerara River yesterday afternoon.
Gerald DeFreitas, 63, was one of seven persons on board the Miss Elissa, which overturned as it was returning to Port Georgetown, after aborting a planned journey to Trinidad and Tobago. Around 6.45 last evening, the search for De Freitas was suspended until daylight today. Up to press time, the ship, which belonged to Ramdat Sankar, of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo, was still floating upside down in the river.
At 2.15 pm yesterday, the 50-foot cargo vessel departed the Muneshwer’s Wharf on Water Street for T&T, but three hours later, it was seen heading back to shore. Within minutes of coming into sight of its point of departure, the vessel began to capsize while its hapless crew members jumped to safety.
No explanation has been given as to why the vessel turned back.
Transport Minister Robeson Benn later told the media at the Muneshwer’s Wharf that the ship’s cargo may have shifted as it entered the Demerara River channel. He said he received a call around 5.20 pm yesterday informing him that a vessel had capsized and was going under in the Demerara River.
Benn, who ventured out on the river aboard a pilot boat to get a glimpse of the wrecked vessel, said that all the relevant agencies, including the coastguard, responded to the scene.
When asked if the ship’s crew was equipped with life jackets, Minister Benn said a full investigation will be carried out into the incident. He said six crew members were rescued and were safe, while the coastguard and others involved in the operation were responding to sounds heard coming from the hull of the vessel.
He said after it was determined that DeFreitas was missing, a search was mounted in the immediate vicinity as well as on the vessel. Searchers equipped themselves with a blowtorch to cut open the hull sometime after, but they were no longer hearing any sounds from the vessel.
Some persons gathered at the wharf criticised the decision to call off the search, noting that it was less than two hours after the exercise was mounted.
Not an option
The vessel was marked by the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD). MARAD Director Stephen Thomas, who was also on site, told the media that the rescue efforts will continue this morning for the missing man. He said that it was unsafe to continue the search last evening. Asked whether any divers were called to assist, Thomas said it was not an option the agency had last evening. According to him, there are no dedicated divers the organisation could have called for assistance.
He said the vessel was loaded with coconuts, wallaba poles and rice at the time of the incident, while noting that the water in the Demerara River was not rough at the time the ship turned over.
The crew members of the vessel were said to be in good health and some even ventured out back on the river aboard rescue boats in search of their missing colleague. The owner of the vessel, who was on the wharf last evening, refused to speak to the media, saying he could not provide much information on the missing man. Persons at the wharf noted last evening that the rescued men were lucky to have escaped alive. They said that if the vessel had overturned in the Atlantic, the outcome would have been dire.
Meantime, La Grange businessman Carlos Da Silva, who was also at the scene last evening, said he had chartered the vessel to ship some 800 bags of coconuts—some 73,000 nuts—to Trinidad. He said it was the first time he hired this boat and his loss was severe. The authorities have been criticised in recent times as regards the safety of vessels which operate in the country’s waters as well as those which ply the international routes. Crew members, and in some cases entire vessels, have gone missing over the years without any trace. In December last year, a cargo vessel, the MV Oliver L, went missing while on the return leg of a T&T trip. The authorities gave up after scouring the seas off the coast as well as off Trinidad on numerous occasions for the men and the vessel.
In March this year, several persons on board the MV Crissan V escaped with their lives after the vessel sank just off the Waini Coast while pulling a tug, travelling to the North West District from the Essequibo River. The vessel sank minutes after a barge, which was laden with mining equipment, including an excavator, slammed into its side. Two young men, Georgetown resident Elbert Jack Jr and teenager Deochand Massidas, were rescued several days later along the Waini Coast. Miner Trevor Garraway is still missing.
