Six persons including a boat captain perished in the Pomeroon River yesterday when a boat contracted to the One Laptop per Family Project (OLPF) collided with a passenger speedboat on its way upriver in low visibility due to rain.
In a statement at 11.50 pm yesterday, police identified the dead persons as follows: Harrinarine Bhagwandin; Velda Rodrigues, 50 years, of Adams Creek; Shawn Anthony, 14 years, of Adams Creek; Rajkumar Singh, 14 years, of Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast; his sister Amerita Singh, 10 years; and uncle Vincent Singh, 40 years, of Adams Creek.
It is the worst river accident in years. Up to press time this morning there was no statement from the Maritime Administration Depart-ment or the Ministry of Public Works on the collision. The police in their statement said that the boat contracted to the OLPF is owned by the Region Two administration and that the captain of the boat has been taken into custody.
Speaking to this newspaper, Steve Rodrigues, another son of Zelda Rodrigues, confirmed that his mother and brother had died. He said too that another brother who was in the boat, Eli Ornan Rodrigues, 12, was injured and had to be taken to the Suddie Hospital. Eli Ornan Rodrigues is the only survivor from Bhagwandin’s boat.
This newspaper understands that the boat had been heading to Abram’s Creek from Charity when the collision occurred in the vicinity of Siriki.
In a brief comment to Stabroek News, spokesperson for the OLPF Dario McKlmon said that about 17:00 hours, a team of OLPF staff and persons from the Region Two Regional Democratic Council (RDC) were returning to Charity following computer distribution exercises in riverain communities.
He said that the boat was about ten minutes away from Charity when the collision occurred. He said that after the collision persons from the OLPF boat were thrown overboard as were persons in the other boat.
McKlmon confirmed that while all of the persons in the OLPF boat were traumatised, none of the fatalities were from that boat. The police statement said that all 13 persons on the OLPF boat are safe.
Another source told this newspaper that the passenger boat was “in the corner” close to the shore near a turn in the river when the OLPF boat came speeding.
The person said that the OLPF boat “ran right over” the boat knocking those passengers out.
A Police source confirmed that six bodies were taken to Charity for identification following the accident.
In recent years there have been numerous fatal accidents in rivers prompting calls for maritime authorities to take measures to ensure greater safety. Several have been of this type where smaller boats were run over by larger craft.
