A nine-year-old schoolgirl is dead and a boat captain missing after the small vessel they were travelling in was run over by a larger boat at Canal Bank, Port Kaituma sometime after 8 last night.
Confirmed dead is Nikesha James of Canal Bank, while police and a search party were still combing the dark river water for Phillip Adams, who is also a resident of Canal Bank. The bigger boat fled the scene without stopping to offer any assistance to those who were thrown into the water.
Stabroek News was told that the child and about nine family members were heading home from her brother’s wedding reception. They were heading to Burma Landing to pick up James’s sister when they were run over by a 200 horse power engine boat.
Meanwhile, James’ sister Niketta said she was standing on the landing waiting to be picked up. She saw the boat with her sister and other relatives approaching the landing, when the larger vessel took off with a speed running them over.
The young woman said there two men in the larger vessel who were intoxicated. She added that they were in the company of two females. According to Niketta, the boat did not stop but continued on its course.
She said the captain of the smaller vessel traversed the river often and knew it well.
Brain Gomes told this newspaper that after receiving news of the incident he went to the landing to assist in transporting the injured to the Port Kaituma Hospital. He recalled that when he arrived, the injured child was unconscious. He said he could not see any injuries but suspected that she sustained a hit to the head.
According to Gomes, he took the child to the hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly after.
The child leaves to mourn other siblings and her parents Joycelyn and Wilfred.
Traversing waterways in the dark, although unsafe, is a custom in all riverain communities. There have been other instances of collisions at night.
