Three men are missing and feared drowned after the boat they were travelling in capsized in the Puruni River on Monday morning.
Up to press time last night the search for the missing men, believed to be miners, continued.
Police in Bartica, Region Seven, confirmed reports of the incident and said that a team of investigators have been dispatched to the area but they are yet to receive information from the investigators there.
One of the missing men is believed to be 35-year old father of four George Bowman, called ‘George Bush,’ of lot 535 Section B South, Sophia. No information was available about the identity of the other two men last evening.
Based on accounts given to this newspaper, on Sunday last a large group of men from the Puruni, Backdam, in the Mazaruni River ventured out to celebrate Fathers’ Day. As they were returning on Monday morning, sometime around 7 am, their vessel capsized, leaving the three men unaccounted for.
According to eyewitness reports, there were as many as 16 men on the trip.
According to Bowman’s mother, Helena Smith, she received a call from his employer on Monday morning informing that he was missing after a mishap in the river.
“This thing happen like Sunday afternoon, fall time, like they come out for Fathers’ Day and they come out and had a drink and as they were going back the boat turn over and three people missing,” Smith told Stabroek News. She also said that female, who had just came out from Puruni, called her from Bartica and informed her of the incident. “The girl said he had on a long boots and when he go down he nah come up back and so far that I know is that the Police gone and they nah found them as yet,” she stated.
She added that Bowman was working in the Puruni area, but she did not know the person he was working with. She added that he went into the mining area with someone else and later changed camps after things went sour.
Smith described her, eldest, son as a spiritual person and stated that he used to maintain regular contact with her. She said that prior to him becoming a miner, he worked as a minibus driver.
Region Seven Chairman, Gordon Bradford, told Stabroek News that it was confirmed that three persons are missing but he said he was awaiting the return of investigators for more information. This he said will take a matter of about two days.
“The Puruni area is very big to conduct investigations and Region Seven in the whole is a big and difficult area to conduct investigations,” he said.