One man is confirmed dead and eight others are missing after two boats collided near Crab Falls, Mazaruni River around 12.30 pm yesterday, triggering a search and rescue operation that drew in the GDF and other agencies.
The dead man was identified by Bartica police as Jermaine Calistro. No names of missing persons were provided by the authorities.
Both boats are believed to be connected to the mining industry.
The search was called off at around 10 last night and will resume today. Crab Falls is around 19 miles up the Mazaruni River.
Transport Minister Robeson Benn had explained early last evening that both of the vessels were suspected to be connected with the mining industry as one was heading in the direction of the mining fields while the other was exiting.
38 year old Rudolph Sam told Stabroek News last night that he was among the passengers on one of the boats. Sam, a mechanic, said that he was at the time heading up to Puruni to repair an excavator.
He said that there were eight other passengers, seven Brazilians and one Guyanese, on the boat heading into Puruni, while the boat which was exiting Puruni contained 13.
Local contractor, Sean Hopkinson told Stabroek News last night that two sons of his mechanic, Ricky Amsterdam, were among the missing.
He said that upon receiving the news of the mishap he made contact with Amsterdam who at the time was at an interior location.
Hopkinson said that the brothers were mechanics and that they had been working on dredge engines in Puruni. The men were on the boat which was exiting Puruni.
According to Sam, the accident occurred at a blind spot near an island which is in the middle of the channel. He said that as his boat was going around the island, in the vicinity of Crab Falls, the accident happened.
“We were coming around the island and I cudda see the other boat coming but I aint know if we captain see the other boat comin, and somebody mussy blink… because next thing I know the other boat start to zig zag and they already aint had too much space to manoeuvre. Everywhere we boat try to go the other one did going. So I grab a fuel drum, cause I know they wudda crash, and I jump overboard.”
Sam said that the boat he was on was fitted with two 200 horsepower engines, which the boat’s captain revved sharply after the impact. This enabled them to hit the bank of the nearby island, and sent the boat’s passengers flying over the sides of the boat onto the riverbank. He explained that the captain of the other boat did not try to accelerate after impact.
He said that on their way to Puruni they had passed some farmers. These farmers later turned back to provide assistance. Sam said that the farmers successfully rescued four of the 13 passengers on the other bank and brought them safely to shore. He added however, that by the time the small boat returned to the area where the accident occurred to provide additional assistance, none of the other passengers could be found.
In the end, all nine passengers of Sam’s boat were said to be have been rescued, while nine passengers from the other vessel could not be found.
Sam said that someone on his boat was in possession of a satellite phone, which they used to contact the Bartica Police. According to sources, after receiving the call, the police were forced to borrow a boat because they did not have one of their own. It was also stated that after the police managed to secure a boat they had to borrow fuel since they had none of their own.
Sam said however that the police were very efficient, and that he was satisfied with the work they did to retrieve them.
The Guyana Defence Force in a terse statement last evening said that upon the request of the Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Coast Guard and infantry troops had been deployed to assist in the search. The release added that the GDF Air Corps was on standby and will be incorporated as is necessary.
Meanwhile an army source indicated that the Force’s helicopters could not have been used because of visibility and safety concerns but there are plans to deploy them this morning to assist in locating those still missing.
A GINA release stated that the search was called off around 22:00hrs last night and will continue early this morning.
Benn and other Government officials are reportedly in Region Seven to assist in coordinating the search.
Police in their statement said that one boat had twelve persons while the other had nine. The release said that “a number of persons are unaccounted for” noting that no other information was available.
Up to press time last evening there was no further information from the police.
Stabroek News was told that the Mazaruni current was rough and that may have contributed significantly to the mishap and so many persons missing. Where the mishap occurred, this newspaper was told the channel is very small and littered with rocks, and that in most cases only one boat can pass at a time. It is believed that this may have also contributed to the collision.
A resident of Bartica said that several persons who sustained minor injuries were transported to the Bartica Hospital where they were treated before being sent away. According to the resident based on what he had been told none of the injured were from the community. The resident said though that one of the vessels involved in the mishap is from Bartica while the other operates from the Parika Stelling. Residents also said that neither of the boat captains was from Bartica.
This is the second deadly boat mishap to occur on the waterways of Guyana’s interior in as many months. On December 17 last a Region 2 administration boat, which was being used to ferry staff of the One Laptop per Family Project (OLPF) for a distribution exercise, collided with a passenger boat in the Siriki district, Pomeroon River.
Boat captain Harrinarine Bhagwandin and his nephew Vincent Singh, 40, both of Abrams Creek; Velda Rodrigues, 50, and her son Shawn Rodrigues, 14, also of Abrams Creek; and Rajkumar, 14, and his sister, Amerita Singh, 10, of Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast were killed as a result of the collision. They were all travelling in the passenger boat.
There was only one survivor of Bhagwandin’s boat and it has been suggested that some of the victims could have been saved if the passengers in the region’s boat had stopped and rendered assistance after the collision.
No one from the Region’s boat was injured.
MARAD later recommended that the captain of the Region’s vessel be charged. No charge has yet been filed.
