A 14-year-old boy died yesterday and another was rescued after they disappeared under the water at the Splashmin’s Resort during a fun day hosted by Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) for its employees and their families.
Kevin Ram, of Zeelugt, West Coast Demerara, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre sometime around 4pm. The other child, 15-year-old Kishan Parandave Nanand, of 28 Block ‘R’, North Sophia, was pulled first from the water and immediately rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was up to press time being treated. He was said to be in a stable condition.
At the Diamond Hospital, Ram’s sister, Vanesha Ram, who is also his guardian, was inconsolable. More upsetting, the woman said, was that hospital officials had not allowed her to view the body.
When asked about what transpired, the woman said that she took her brother along to the fun day and kept a close eye on him except for about a ten-minute period when she and a few other adults went on a boat ride. Kids, she noted, were not allowed to participate in this activity.
“He de too small to go on the ride. I went on the boat and I left he sitting down. That’s all I know… I tell he… I tell meh baby ‘sit down and don’t go no way’… but I don’t know what happen after that,” a tearful Ram told this newspaper.
She noted that after returning from the ride, she saw persons in a panic and she was then informed that her brother and another youth had gone under the water. The boy, who survived, she said, was pulled from the water first. Onlookers made attempts to perform CPR on the child before he was rushed to the GPH with a steady pulse.
It was unclear how long it took persons to find Ram but this newspaper understands that he was already dead by the time he was pulled out.
His sister told this newspaper that their parents reside abroad and as such, she has been caring for the lad ever since.
Meanwhile, last night at the GPH, relatives of Nanand waited anxiously outside the Accident and Emergency Unit for word on his condition. They were told that he was stable.
This newspaper spoke to his mother, Tajyo Nanand, who said the child went on the outing with his father who is an employee of TCL.
She said that according to the information she received, her son went out into the water and appeared to have been drowning when young Ram ventured out as well in an effort to save him. Neither of the boys can swim.
The woman said her husband had related to her that he, too, had gone on a boat ride when the tragedy struck.
This newspaper spoke to another woman who was at the resort when the incident occurred who said that most of the adults who travelled to Splashmin’s for the fun day had gone on the boat ride while she stayed to monitor her children.
She said that the boys were left to sit together and no one was asked to look over them while their guardians went out to the other end of the resort.
She noted that she had not noticed when the boys went into the water.
“They go where they ain’t suppose to go and swim… One go fuh save the other one,” the woman said as she shook her head.
Management of the Splashmin’s Resort said that a statement would be issued today.
