As police await legal advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on the boat crash in the Pomeroon River in which a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard vessel collided with a civilian boat, resulting in the death of farmer Ryan Khayum, his widow has broken her silence and is calling for justice.
“I cannot swim but I remember fighting for my dear life. I remember I held on to a fat man but that person kept loosing my fingers and pushing me down, but I was not giving up, I gathered all my energies and yelled help with everything I had left in me before I lost consciousness,” Chandanie Khayum told Stabroek News.
Speaking with this newspaper on Monday, the woman alleged that the Coast Guard crew aboard the army vessel caused the accident through negligence, including failing to have their lights on at the time of the accident.
The GDF has said in a statement on the collision that the Coast Guard vessel, the GDFS HAWK 1028, which had four ranks on board, was returning from Charity, Essequibo, to their Floating Base when the collision took place around 21:00 hours on April 20.
It has been alleged that the Coast Guard ranks were under the influence of alcohol at the time as they were seen drinking at a Bar in Charity Water Front. At least one breathalyzer test was administered but police did not release the results.
Following the collision, Ryan Khayum drowned and his body was not recovered until days after.
Chandanie, who was aboard the civilian vessel with her husband, was hospitalised for two days.
She said that on the night of the accident, she, her husband and two cousins were journeying home when the accident occurred.
“One of my cousin shouted, ‘Boat! Boat!’ I was sitting flat… under the boat shed, so I raise my head to see where the boat was coming from, but before I could’ve seen anything the boat was on top of us. The Coast Guard boat crashed into the stern, hitting my husband first. He did not [have] any time to jump or escape,” she recounted.
According to the woman, the Coast Guard’s boat fit in their boat and stayed on top of it until her boat eventually sank.
The Coast Guard’s boat, the woman explained, pinned a cousin who was at the bow of the boat with the light.
The boat reportedly covered their entire boat after colliding with it from the rear and she and her cousin had to wait until her boat sank to swim out, while the other cousin, who had sounded the alarm, managed to jump next to her.
Chandanie said her rescue was witnessed by persons who were alerted by the sound of the collision and they observed two Coastguards attempting to rescue her. She said her face remained in the water, which led her to question if the ranks were trained to execute rescue missions.
The woman added that after she regained consciousness, she and her two cousins were taken to the Charity Police Station, while the crew from the GDF vessel remained to search for her husband.
“I get head injuries and various bodily injuries and was left with my two cousins who also got injuries after being pinned under the Coast Guard’s boat. My aunt had to rush us to the hospital because neither the Police nor Coastguard showed interest in getting us there,” she explained before relating that her late husband suffered five broken ribs, a broken shoulder, head trauma, laceration on his legs and hands and all his front teeth are missing due to the impact.
The woman said also that no one saw lights on the Coast Guard vessel.
“That Coast Guard boat did not have on the lights. I have seen that vessel when the lights were on, it can flood the entire river with light. But I am positive, like the other two survivors and residents around the area, that night their lights were not on. Also we were in front of Keith Rahim when the incident occurred. His residence is always well lit in the nights, so how did they not see us? Was the captain looking out for other vessels at all? What were the other three persons doing? Four pairs of eyes and not one saw us?” the woman questioned.
Touching on the damage to her boat as a result of the accident, she said the engine is damaged beyond repair and the boat is battered from the back to the front.
“The side my husband was sitting on is smashed in and that is a steel boat, that is to say how speed that Coast Guard boat was driving and without lights. All of my goods valuing about $100,000 went down. The money, which is about $380,000, from what I have collected from selling the produce with what I had in my purse are yet to be found along with my gold chain,” she added.
The woman believes that there is cover-up as other documents which she had in her bag were found but not her valuables.
Further, she said that despite a visit and promise of assistance from army officials, her family is still waiting on them to keep their word. The GDF, she said, promised to assist with the repairs of the boat and some of the funeral expenses.
Ryan Khayum was laid to rest last Friday.