A teenage boatman is dead after colliding with his father in a boat accident in the Barama River, in the North West District on Monday.
Stevon Marks Benn, of Grant Play Fair Backlands, Lower Pomeroon River, was 18.
Reports are that around midday on Monday, Benn was piloting a boat powered by an outboard engine when he collided with another boat which was being operated by his father. The two boats collided around a turn in the White Creek area along the Barama River.
Benn, who sustained injuries to his chest, was taken to the Acquero Hospital at Moruca, where he was pronounced dead on arrival by medical staff.
The young man’s aunt told Stabroek News yesterday that her nephew and his father have been working with a mining company, whose operations are located at White Creek. She said that Benn and his father would ferry persons working with the company between the camp and the mining grounds.
According to the aunt, the dead man’s father has related that his son was proceeding along the river to the mining grounds with lunch for mining company workers when the two boats collided. Benn was hit to the chest by the bow of the other vessel and was thrown into the river following the collision, she said. There were no other passengers in either vessel at the time of the accident.
Benn had been working with the mining company for about six months, his aunt noted.
He is survived by his parents and four siblings. The police are investigating the incident, which is the latest in a recent series of river accidents.
Last Friday, cargo vessel Miss Elissa capsized in the Demerara River while returning to shore. The ship’s cook Gerald Fraser remained missing up to yesterday.
