An argument among a group of fishermen on the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday ended with one of them allegedly being dashed into the deep before he disappeared with the currents.
Missing and feared dead is Avo Singh, 22, of Lot 20 Dundee, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara. The three other men who were aboard the vessel, including its captain, have since been taken into custody.
Police yesterday said they were investigating the murder of Singh, which occurred aboard a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean off the foreshore of Bush Lot, Berbice. The police say that the body was reported to have been thrown overboard and had since not been recovered.
Stabroek News learned that Singh had left his home on March 7, on his second sea fishing journey and was destined for Suriname waters. Relatives said that although he was very skilled in the trade, having been fishing since he was 15, he had never ventured far from home. He normally fished in the Abary River area but his last trip was the second time he was venturing to the deep Atlantic and Surinamese territory, his elder sister Nalo, told Stabroek News yesterday.
When Stabroek News visited Singh’s home his relatives were busy cleaning the surroundings since he lived alone in the house he inherited from his mother who passed away in 2000.
His sister informed that the vessel her brother was on at the time he went missing had a crew of four men, one of whom was the captain.
“We hear that the captain call and say that he hear a lil argument and then a fight and them seh how the other two men throw the boy ova board,” Nalo related. She said they were told that the vessel was in the Atlantic Ocean off the foreshore of Bush Lot, when the attackers after hitting her brother out of the boat, tied the captain and was in the process of abducting him. However, a Coastguard patrol in the vicinity intervened and escorted the boat to Charity where a report was made to the police station there and the crew taken into custody, before being transferred to the Fort Wellington Police Station.
Relatives are hoping that a thorough investigation will be done by the police.
Fighting back tears, the missing man’s sister said the captain was shouting from the lockups as he related the story to her. “The captain seh if you see how dem murder me brother and dem throw he like a piece a fish ovaboard,” she cried.
Meanwhile, the owner of the vessel, who only gave his name as Andy, said he knew nothing about what had transpired since the police did not give him a chance to speak with his employees.
