Brave young man saves Region 2 transport officer
A BRAVE effort by an employee of the Works Division of the regional administration in Region2  (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Shaun Norton, saved the life of transport officer Jai Kumar Singh on Thursday afternoon.
Singh along with two other employees and boat captain Stoby were travelling in a vessel powered by a 200 horse power outboard engine, from Parika, when the unexpected happened around 14:30 hrs in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Suddie foreshore, on the Essequibo Coast.
Reports said Singh and the others had gone to Parika, East Bank Essequibo, to collect the wooden craft, that was built for the regional administration and were returning in it when high waves and strong wind toppled it in the murky, turbulent waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Suddie beach.
Some other employees of the regional administration, who were waiting on the beach with a canter truck to receive the new boat, watched in disbelief as it sank and the occupants were thrown into the deep.
One of those who witnessed the drama unfolding, Shaun Norton, said he saw only three persons holding on to the boat and struggling to survive in the turbulence although there was supposed to be four of them.
He, immediately, stripped off his clothing and ventured into the ocean to save his colleagues from drowning.
According to the young man, he was not afraid and swam quickly to the sunken boat. He said he asked the three men whom he saw for the transport officer and they said he had probably drowned.
But Norton said he did not believe that and requested that the boat be overturned to put the bottom back in the water.
He said the capsized boat was very heavy but he and the three others managed to get it back in its original position and they found Singh trapped, with his feet hooked under a seat.
Norton said he dragged the helpless officer out and got him to shore quickly, then took him to the nearby Suddie Public Hospital, where he was admitted and is recovering.