Five young Guyanese fishermen who were missing after a storm ripped
their boat to pieces sometime on Saturday evening have been rescued.
The men who have been identified as Rondell Vanderstoop, 27, the boat captain, his brother Norris Dundas, 18, Steve Mc Bean,22 Andrew Beaton,22 all of Epsom village and Rodwell Captain,22 called “Dudu” of Kiltearn village , also on the Corentyne.
The men left shore last Friday and were making their way out to sea when tragedy struck sometime around 22:00 hrs on Saturday night in Surinamese waters.
According to Leroy Vanderstoop, a sibling of Norris Dundas and Rondell Vanderstopp, he received a call from a close family friend in the wee hours of Sunday morning informing him that the boat his brother was on had sunk and that three crew members were unaccounted for.
“I got a call that a storm passed and broke the boat my brother was the captain on to pieces and that they only rescued two crew members Steve and Rodwell and that my two brothers and Andrew was still missing,” he said.
He said a rescue boat went to the area and rescuers managed to find the three men alive some 35 hours later on a sand bank.
Speaking with this publication, Andrew Beaton explained that from around 22:00 hrs on Saturday they swam until around 4 am Sunday,before reaching ashore. They were rescued on Monday morning.
“The whole thing happened so fast, it was like a movie, the boat just loose up when the wave them hit we and everybody went in a different direction. I start swimming till I reach shore like 4 o clock time and I see them other bannas a lil bit after. We wait wait until this morning (Monday) for help,” Beaton said.
This publication understand that the men swam for a while but managed to stay afloat by clinging to debris from the wreckage. Miraculously, the fishermen are healthy and they are looking forward to return home to their loved ones.
A relative of one of the men said when he heard the news he began to panic as he recalled the deadly piracy attack in April this year.
“When I hear Suriname and boat sink all my thoughts run back to piracy and I started to get a really bad tummy ache, I start praying that them boys ok and I glad we prayers answered,” he said.
With the exception of the captain who has been at sea for over eleven years,the others have no more than four years experience in the fishing industry.
