Capsized cargo vessel, Miss Elissa, was shifted some 100 feet further up the Demerara River from its original anchored position during the spring tides early yesterday morning.
According to Harbour Master Volton Skeete the vessel was being monitored during the course of Friday evening and there was also a tug boat alongside it to ensure it stayed out of the main channel.
He added that although the vessel was anchored the tide coupled with the weight of the vessel out-powered the tug boat and it began shifting early yesterday morning. However, the tug boat managed to keep the vessel west of the channel.
Skeete told Stabroek News that since the tide proved to be stronger that the anchors on the vessel it showed that they needed to have it salvaged before the next spring tide.
He stated that the owner and the Maritime Adminis-tration are working closely to have that done at the earliest opportunity.
On the vessel, when it capsized, was Gerald Fraser who is still missing and his family has given up hope that he will ever be found.
Fraser, 67, was one of seven persons onboard the vessel which had earlier departed the Muneshwer’s Wharf for Trinidad and Tobago.
Captain of the vessel, Justin Bynoe, had told this newspaper that the boat left the harbour some time around 4.45 pm on June 8. He said the vessel started to experience technical difficulties and it was decided that they would return to shore. “When going back the cargo shift and the ship start to twist and next thing we know it was capsizing,” he recounted.
The 130-foot long cargo vessel was subsequently shifted from the river channel to facilitate river traffic.
Miss Elissa was transporting coconuts, wallaba poles and rice to the Caribbean island when the incident occurred.
