A 14-year-old boy died yesterday after he reportedly plunged from the top of the Uitvlugt koker into the river.
The lifeless body of Rondell Ally, of 251 Number 2 Scheme, Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, was pulled from the water around 1 pm after he went to the site without the permission of his guardian. The child was not known to be a swimmer.
“He was jumping from the top of the koker and like he break his neck, blood was pouring from his nose,” one woman told this newspaper.
When Stabroek News visited the home of the deceased, his grandmother, Judith Elcock, said it was around midday that the lad told her he was going to a friend’s home in the village.
“Around midday he say he going to his friend, I say alright because he is always go by his friend and I say as yuh going on the road tek this money and buy a battery and a bulb,” she recalled.
The woman said about half an hour later, some young boys rushed to her home and reported that her grandson, along with another friend had plunged into the water but that Ally had failed to resurface. “…Some lil boys come and tell me how Rondell went in the river and ain’t come out back. The boy came out but he ain’t come out,” she explained.
Elcock said the news of her grandson’s death came as a major shock since she had never known of him going to swim. “I really didn’t expect he to go and swim. He never go there and he can’t swim,” she noted.
However, when Stabroek News visited the scene, residents in the area said this was not so and they insisted that Ally frequently visited the area and went “bathing” at the riverside.
This newspaper understands that the child previously lived in Antigua with his mother but came to Guyana in December last after she migrated to the United States of America.
His grandmother was his legal guardian. “He was staying with us till he get time to go with his mother,” Elcock said.
Ally was a student of the Uitvlugt Secondary School and was described as quiet and very friendly.
Residents who had gathered at the home said that the area was known to be dangerous for swimming and children are always warned against wandering into the waters.
“In 1992, (several) children drowned there. As far as I can remember, my father always saying don’t go in the river, people are always drowning there. That spot take a lot of lives. An excursion from Georgetown de come and two boys de drown some time ago too,” one woman said.
