Two seamen are still missing three weeks after a fuel tanker capsized in the Corentyne River and two survivors are telling different tales of what transpired.
Missing are captain of the boat Gianan Rickiram and crew member Patrick Constantine.
Anthony Sookdeo, who was aboard the vessel and is the son of Rickiram, believes the two were trapped under the boat, which is still overturned at sea. The other survivor, Leon Augustus Persaud, of Brickery, whose first day on the job ended tragically, said that the boat had capsized due to large crashing waves that hit the boat repeatedly.
The Guyana-registered vessel, The Swift Dolphin, had capsized at the mouth of the Corentyne River at approximately 1:45am, on August 12th while heading to Georgetown from Paramaribo, Suriname. The event occurred while Constantine was sleeping in the cabin and Persaud and Rickiram were at the helm, with Persaud at the wheel of the vessel.
What is clear from each survivor’s accounts is that Rickiram went under when he rushed into the cabin to awaken Constantine. A distraught Sookdeo said that the moment when his father left to alert Constantine was the last he saw him since the boat then turned over in the blink of an eye. It is believed the men’s bodies are trapped under the vessel, some 100 feet below water level and Sookdeo wants the authorities to find a way to go there. He is seeking closure for his mother, Latchmin Rickiram, who suffers from hypertension, and called on the Maritime Administration Depart-ment (MARAD) to do something for them.
Since the accident there have been search and rescue missions by both MARAD and the Coast Guard but these have tapered off and both Rickiram and Constantine are feared dead. MARAD officials say that investigations are still ongoing.
Sookdeo, 34, of Herstelling Squatting Area, told Stabroek News that he blames Persaud for causing the boat to capsize while he was steering. He refuted Persaud’s claims of large waves being responsible for capsizing the vessel.
According to Sookdeo, although it was Persaud’s first trip with them, the owner of the vessel, who is a resident of Suriname, had instructed Rickiram to let the new crewmember steer the boat as he was an all-rounder seaman.
Sookdeo said that he lost everything on the boat, including all his earnings and work documents. He is now seeking a job but is unable to work. He added that his situation was made worse after the owner of the vessel, with whom he had become well acquainted, all but abandoned him by failing to make contact and also changing his phone numbers.
