By Delana Isles
ALBERT Herwain Van Vieldt, of Lot 9 Supply, East Bank Demerara, who was found by a boy and his dog on Monday last, yesterday succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

The 84-year-old man died at the Male Medical Ward of the hospital while receiving saline and oxygen at about 05:30 hrs, after being transferred there from the Diamond Diagnostic Centre the evening before, hospital reports said.

Van vieldt’s almost-lifeless body was reportedly found on the Conservancy Dam aback of the East Bank village earlier this week.

Reports also said that the man was wearing a pair of khaki coloured trousers, a blue shirt, both of which were torn, no shoes, and his body was covered with mud. The sides of the man’s insteps were also reportedly badly eaten away by maggots and both of his feet were in a trench at the time of his discovery.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle last evening, Van Vieldt’s wife, Stella, was saddened with the news of her husband’s demise.

She said that he left home almost two weeks ago to visit with relatives in Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara, his hometown, and had left early to return to his home.

However, it is the belief of the wife that the man may have lost his way while trying to get back home and ended up in Mocha, where he was later discovered.

Mrs. Van Vieldt stated that she received the report about her husband, to whom she has been married for 36 years, from someone at the Diamond Centre, who must have recognised him.

The Van Vieldts had resided in the United Kingdom for some ten years, before returning to Guyana in 1972.

Meanwhile, relatives of the missing U.S. citizen, Kwame Jobronewet, whom it was mistakenly believed was the initially unidentified Van Vieldt, are still hoping for word of the missing man.

Speaking with this newspaper yesterday afternoon, Jobronewet’s cousin, Mrs. Paulette Charles, said that they were hopeful when they at first heard the news of the discovery.

However, she pointed out that her sister had travelled to the Diamond Centre and had dispelled all hope that it was their relative.

She also said the family is still hopeful that someone could call and say that they found him alive and well somewhere, but at the same time, they are considering the possibility that something may have happened to him and he could be lying hurt somewhere.

Mrs. Charles said that the family needs closure at the least.

Efforts are still being exerted to locate the missing 67-year-old overseas-based man, also known as Romie Johnston.

Jobronewet was reported missing by relatives last June 13 after arriving in Guyana for his mother’s burial the day before with other relatives.

He had left the residence of Mrs. Charles, in Ogle, East Bank Demerara, to visit his mother’s home in Buxton, another ECD village.

Although the female cousin who takes care of the deceased mother’s house confirmed that Jobronewet had shown up at the residence and had left, family members have since been unable to locate him and now fear the worst.

According to reports received, the man was last sighted reportedly purchasing something from a shop in the Buxton area with a US$100 bill.

The California-based Jobronewet has been living in the U.S. for some 43 years and has not been back to Guyana regularly. The last visit, the family said, was in 2004.

The family is again appealing to anyone who may have seen their relative, or know of his whereabouts, to contact them on telephone number 222-2688, or the nearest police station.