The quarantine on the Lady Zai, a cargo vessel on which a Guyanese crew-member died has been lifted by the health officials in St Lucia, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) said yesterday.
In a brief statement, MARAD said that the quarantine on the St Vincent and the Grena-dines registered vessel has been “conditionally lifted”.
No information has been provided to the media on the identity of the dead man or the others who were aboard the vessel at the time of the death. Efforts to contact local health, transport and MARAD officials on this issue yesterday were futile.
MARAD had said in a previous statement that the ship left Guyana on March 9 with ten Guyanese crew members aboard.
Before the ship arrived, St Lucia’s port health officials were informed of the situation and when the vessel docked, an emergency autopsy was performed and the sick man was taken to a hospital while the other eight crewmembers were quarantined. The ship had also been quarantined on the advice of medical officials.
According to MARAD, the usual precautionary method was implemented to protect the local population from contracting any possible communicable disease. MARAD officials were in contact with their colleagues in St Lucia.
At a press conference on Tuesday March 11, Senior Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belmar-George confirmed that an emergency post mortem examination was conducted on the body of the 53-year-old Guyanese crew member. The findings revealed that he died from bronco-pneumonia. The hospitalized crew member was also suffering from a respiratory illness.
The vessel which is owned by KB Enterprise which operates at Houston, Guyana was destined for the Vieux Fort Seaport with animal grains.
This newspaper has been unable to make contact with officials of KB Enterprises.
The cargo aboard the Lady Zai, is the property of the Caribbean Grains — a Vieux Fort Freezone feed mill whix, an operation which produces feed for all types of farm animals for the local market.
The officials on the island say that the entire ship must undergo sanitization before the cargo is offloaded and prior to its departure from St Lucia.
