…relatives unhappy with manner in which owner is treating the matter
ONE week after the ill-fated motor vessel, ‘Miss Ellisa’, capsized in the Demerara River channel, opposite Muneshwar’s wharf, there is still no trace of missing 67-year-old crew member, Gerald Fraser, and relatives are beginning to view with much suspicion and distaste, the way in which owner of the vessel, Ramdatt Sankar is treating the matter. “It was bad enough that within one hour of the disaster, the search was called off for the night; and even worse, that the advice given by the Minister of Works and Communication, Robeson Benn, to cut the hull of the ship so as to give the lone man left behind a chance to make contact with the rescue team, was overruled,” irate relatives contend.
So far, a team of divers is reported to have been brought in from Trinidad by the owner of the ship, Ramdatt Sankar, who, according to relatives, is not keen on contracting a local to do the diving job. The first two men were brought in on Tuesday night and had a look see on Thursday, while two more, were said to have been brought in Thursday night. Fraser’s relatives said that on Wednesday they saw two ‘white men’ at the Transport and Harbours boat house, but had no conversation with them.  It is not known whether the men commenced diving yesterday.
In addition, on the day after the disaster, two local divers were brought in from the Demerara Harbour Bridge and went down into the water for a brief moment, but came up back soon after, without mounting a search for the missing man.
Meanwhile, as time runs out, relatives recommended an experienced local diver of their choice, specifically to search for the missing man, but the two did not find common ground on the matter of payment.
After careful analysis of all that was said and done over the last week, relatives of Gerald Fraser now have come to one conclusion – that is, that all the owners of the boat care about and are now focusing on is the vessel, and what it would cost them to salvage it, and whatever else they may consider worthy of retrieval from the ship.
“That is all they care about. Clearly, in their estimation, Gerald Fraser never even existed, or if he did, he is now dead and can be left to provide food for the sea nymphs,” they lamented yesterday as they stood at the Stabroek Bazaar, looking at the overturned ship, in which they presume their loved one is still trapped.

Haunting memory
Moreover, adding to the bereaved relatives’ grief, they say, is the fact that the sunken boat was removed from where it went down last week, and deposited at another spot which places it directly opposite where Fraser’s sister and nieces have their fish stand in the Vendors’Arcade outside Stabroek Market.
“So why they couldn’t find another place to put that boat, it is just something to haunt us daily.  Everytime we raise our heads and look across the river, we are greeted by the sight of that ship…Owe God, meh brother trapped in that ship and till now they not doing anything to get him out,” Geraldine cried out at the market on Wednesday.
But the incensed relatives who have been trying their level best to get the owner to let good sense prevail and treat them and the missing man as though they mattered, are vowing that they will leave no stone unturned to get justice in the situation.
The cargo vessel Miss Ellisa overturned around 17:20hrs last Friday, after the crew ran into difficulty and made a quick decision to return to port.  As they were nearing the Muneshwar’s wharf, the boat, suddenly capsized.  An SOS alarm was sounded by other ships in the harbour, and help was quickly mobilized.
Six of the seven-member crew were rescued, but Fraser, the Chef, who had minutes before their departure, shopped greens and vegetables for the crew, was on the second floor of the vessel cooking, and was probably not aware that the boat was in serious danger and had to be taken back to port.
And since the vessel did not go down gradually, but made a sudden 180 degrees ‘flip over’, there was no opportunity for him to get out of the galley where he was cooking at the time.  After the six other crew members were rescued and Fraser left behind, Minister of Works and Communications Robeson Benn mobilized the Maritime Command and ranks for the Guyana Fire Service to embark on a search for the missing man.
Fraser, who was employed as a cook on the vessel, was the lone person left behind, after the six other  crew members had been rescued minutes after the ship overturned in the murky waters.
Information peddled after the disaster, was that Fraser had turned back onto the ship to get a bag, something the cook’s twin sister Geraldine Fraser and other relatives stoutly dismissed as nonsensical, given the fact, they argued, that the boat, as seen by persons on land, did not take time to go down, but overturned suddenly and within seconds was under water.  They said the captain eventually agreed that Fraser was on the second floor of the ship cooking, and probably never made it out of the boat.
For this reason, relatives are deeply perturbed and continue to agonize daily over the tragedy.  They claim it would ease the pain and bring closure to the loss were they to get the body back and give their loved one a decent burial.