By Nafeeza Yahya

ONE of the persons apprehended by police in relation to the piracy attack of Friday evening — wherein one fisherman is dead and three others are missing — has confessed to his involvement in the crime. Thus the police have made some headway in their investigations of this unsavoury incident.However, the search continues for the three missing fishermen who were attacked. They have been identified as Dhanpaul Rampaul of Number 67 Village, Corentyne; Dochand Sukra, called ‘Bucher”, 54, of Number 55 Village, Corentyne; and Munesh Churram, called “Bayo”, 26.

Family members of the missing fishermen are praying that they be found alive, even in the face of the bleakness of the situation. Teajpattie Seusaran, wife of Munesh Churram, called Bayo, said she always warned him of the danger of being a fisherman, and would encourage him to take up another profession, but he never really paid her any serious attention. He deeply loved his work, she said, even though he was attacked once before by pirates.

“Every time he go, me always fearful for him; me always feel like something guh happen. But he love this work, you can’t tell am nah to go fish!” she told the Guyana Chronicle.

Boat owners, fishermen and ranks of the Guyana Police Force are continuing their search for the missing men, desperately hoping to find them alive.

On Friday, five pirates armed with cutlasses pounced on fishermen plying their trade in the Lower Shell Area off Nickerie, Suriname at about 23:00 hrs. Three fishing vessels were attacked by the five cutlass-wielding pirates. Hemchand Sukhdeo, called “Dread”, 45, of Number 55 Village Corentyne, was killed in this attack. His lifeless body was discovered on Saturday in a fishers’ seine during low tide.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Clent Nathoo, owner of Akbar SK 1509, one of the vessels attacked, said the pirates ordered his crew to hand over their catch, and threatened to burn the boat with his crew aboard.

“Me boat was working in the same area, and about two ‘O’ clock five men pulled up to me boat. Them put the crew members in the cabin and went in the icebox and offload the fish to their boat. They throw two bucket of gasoline into the boat and threatened to burn it; but them nah burn, them left,” he said.

Captain of the vessel on which the unfortunate Hemchand Sukhdeo worked, 43-year-old Seepersaud Persaud of Number 78 Village, Corentyne, said he was thrown overboard during this attack, but miraculously survived. He swam for three hours before being rescued.

Persaud told the Guyana Chronicle that his vessel was approximately five miles in the Atlantic Ocean in Surinamese waters when it was approached by pirates, who demanded that his crew hand over their catch, valued at $140,000. They complied, even as four of the pirates boarded their vessel while another remained on the pirate boat.

His crew was then tied up and transferred onto the pirates’ vessel, and he was instructed to take it ashore with the crew, as the pirates took their boat.

As he was about to move off, the pirates told him to throw two of his men overboard, but he refused; thus he

was instead thrown overboard by the pirates.

On Saturday, police, acting on information, went to the Number 65 Village Foreshore on the Corentyne Coast, where they saw a boat matching the given description of the pirates’ vessel. The five men who were aboard that vessel have been arrested, and one of them has since confessed to participating in the acts of piracy committed on Friday.