TRAGEDY struck the Mahdia community yesterday at the RH Hotel poolside with the death of a Berbice resident. Reports are that 30-year old Carl Welcome had left his camp at North Fork Mahdia on Saturday to visit his brother Elroy Stuart who was hospitalised for a snake bite.

Welcome  of Ulverston Village, Corentyne, Berbice is said to have joined friends at the poolside, sometime later and is reported to have jumped into the pool telling friends he would show them how long he could hold his breath underwater. But by the time his friends realised something was wrong and pulled him from the pool he was already unconscious. He was rushed to the nearby Mahdia Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead by the doctor on duty.
In a statement issued immediately after the drowning, proprietor of RH Hotel, Roger Hinds expressed his sorrow and regret at the tragic end to a productive youngster.