THIRTEEN-year-old Mark Anthony Burnette of Third Street, Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara died on Tuesday after he reportedly broke his neck while plunging into a trench after he and a friend went for a swim.

A senior police officer attached to ‘D’ Division said that based on investigations, the teen, who was a student of Endeavour Secondary School in Canal Number Two Polder, WBD and a friend went for a swim in a nearby trench when he reportedly plunged in and hit his head on a submerged object.

A family member, who asked to remain anonymous, said that all she knows is that Burnette left home after his sister went to the city to do some business and moments later the family received a call saying that Burnette had died.

“The friend that he went an swim with went to his mother and reported what transpire before he came to us, when he came and told us what happened myself and some other residents then went at the area where the incident occurred and look for him. A resident and a family member then went into the trench to search until they found his body like five minutes after,” the family member said.

After Burnette’s body was found, checks were made for a pulse and breathing but to no avail. His body was taken to the Ezekiel Funeral Parlour,on the West Bank Demerara, where a post-mortem examination is to be conducted before weekend.
Burnette leaves to mourn his nine siblings (four sisters and five brothers) and his mother, who resides overseas, and is expected to return to Guyana shortly.

(By Asif Hakim)