VISHNU Narine, 43, a miner of Golden Fleece, Essequibo Coast, was reported to have drowned last Friday at Butakari, in Essequibo River, near the mining camp where he was working. According to his sister, Nandranie Narine, she received a telephone call, around 14:00 hrs last Friday, telling her the drowning took place while her brother was taking a bath.
The distressed woman said she travelled to Butakari and, with some other people, started a fruitless search.
She said she was told that the corpse floated on Sunday but nobody took it out of the river and it continued to drift and, when the remains of her brother were finally located, it was a devastating sight.
The woman said her brother had no feet, neither arms, the nose was missing and his two eyes were dug out. She said his face was swollen and there were many obvious marks of violence.
The grieving sister said a hole was dug in a nearby sand bank and the remnants found were buried there.
She said the lone policeman at the scene did not carry out investigation into the death and the burial took place without an autopsy having been performed.
She said the policeman asked her to sign a statement and she did without thinking what she was signing because of confusion and distress.
However, she has since learnt that her sibling had problems with some other men who were working on the same dredge at Butakari and arguments had erupted.
She said family members suspect that her brother was murdered and dumped into the Essequibo River.
Reports said the owner of the dredge, who was out of the area when the incident took place, did not call the family or visit them and they are now calling for the police to exhume the remains and launch an investigation immediately.
Narine was unmarried at the time of his death.