A 32-year-old father of one is feared drowned, after reportedly going down while swimming across a trench in the Enterprise Backlands, East Coast Demerara late yesterday afternoon.

Sketchy details that came in late last night indicate that the man, a Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) employee, whose name was only given as ‘Vishal’, is the son of a couple known in the scheme as ‘Shanta and Arnold’.

The reports further indicated that Vishal and a colleague who would normally swim across the trench as a short cut to a dam which takes them out to Vigilance, were on this same routine yesterday afternoon around 17:00 hrs when tragedy struck.

The men set out together, but the friend recalled that he was ahead of Vishal for some time, and later looked back but did not see him.  Terrified, the man reportedly hurried home and raised an alarm.

As news of the misfortune went around, villagers turned out in large numbers to mount a search for the missing man.  Well after 21:00 hrs last night the search was still ongoing, with the rescue team getting even bigger.

A report was made to the police who took a statement from Vishal’s friend and joined the search for the missing man.
(Please see more details in tomorrow’s edition)