(Trinidad Express) One of the men who was on the ill-fated vessel that sank last week in the waters between Trinidad and Venezuela has been located.
He told his parents he held onto a plastic container and floated for nine hours before he was rescued by Guyanese fishermen.
Arnold Ramkhelawan, 26, contacted his parents by phone on Monday and told them he was safe in Guyana.
His father, Steve Ramkhelawan, of Gran Chemin, Moruga, told the Express in a phone interview yesterday that he was relieved to hear his son survived.
Ramkhelawan said his son told him the other missing men—Vijayanand “Promo” Toophforeanie, 40, Rishi “Shortman” Seelochan, 38, and Zaid “Johnny” Alladin, 26, as well as another man identified only as “Sammy”, were on the boat that left Trinidad on Thursday night.
Ramkhelawan told the Express that his son was on board the boat bound for Venezuela to engage in illegal trade.
“This was not a fishing trip. They went to trade, buy birds and whatever kind of animals. I am not going to hide for them. Some might say they went fishing but that is not true. It is a long while this has been going on, going back and forth. Everyone knows what has been going on. I spoke to him about this illegal business but he did not listen. But you make children and do not make their minds,” said Ramkhelawan.
The father said his son told him they left on Wednesday afternoon around 4.30 but disaster struck the next night.
“He told me that Thursday night around 7 p.m. he lie down in the boat and all of a sudden a swell came and filled the boat with water. The boat sank. He was not wearing a life jacket. He was holding on to a plastic container that was filled with clothes. He swim and float, swim and float for about nine hours until they found him. He really had belly to hang on there without a life jacket. He had to stay up all night and hold onto that container. I have to say he did well because there are a lot of people who fall over a boat and do not survive,” said Ramkhelawan.
The son told his father he did not know if anyone else survived.
“This happened at night so he didn’t see because it is dark. I am a fisherman. When that kind of thing happens everybody buss up and you don’t know where everybody is. Especially as it is very easy to lose contact with each other,” said Ramkhelawan.
He said his son is staying with the Guyanese fishermen who rescued him, until they return to Trinidad.
On Sunday, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG) stated it was working with Venezuelan authorities to locate a vessel with 25 occupants which went missing between Trinidad and Venezuela.
The vessel had departed from South Trinidad on Friday night, heading to the Delta region of Venezuela and initial reports indicated that it may have sunk in Venezuelan waters.
The bodies of four people were recovered off Venezuela along with one survivor but 20 people still remain unaccounted for.
The TTCG said people on the vessel were from the Nabasanuka community and were members of the Warao people.
The TTCG said officers have been in communication with their Venezuelan counterparts in an attempt to locate additional people, with searches being conducted within the territorial waters of Trinidad and Tobago.
