THE BODY of Guyanese blind cricketer Gordon Sandiford, who died recently in St Lucia, will be returned home by weekend, according to the Director of Sport Christopher Jones. 

Giving a brief comment yesterday, the Sport Director indicated that he and the Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnarine paid a visit to the family of the 28-year-old cricketer and arrangements were made for the return of the body.
“Of course the Government of Guyana committed to offset all expenses in terms of having the body returned to Guyana and we were awaiting the post-mortem which was done yesterday (Monday).
Jones also disclosed that the post-mortem results revealed that Sandiford did not die by drowning but rather as a result of some piece of food from the meal he had about an hour earlier. Which was stuck somewhere in one of the pipes in his throat.
According to Jones, the magistrate in St Lucia will have to sign off and officially release the body for transportation back to Guyana. He says that they are in contact with one of the funeral homes in St Lucia and they are looking at making the local connection to receive the body.
The family has requested the use of Jerrick’s Funeral Service but the St Lucian company says that they do business with Sandy’s, something the sport director says will be sorted out and fixed by Permanent Secretary Alfred King.
On July 28, Sandiford left Guyana as part of the Guyana team to participate in the Blind Cricketers Tournament in St Lucia. He was scheduled to be a part of the Guyana and Windward Islands match set for Friday but it was cancelled due to heavy rains.
The team was invited to go on tour of the Rodney Mall and then the Pigeon Island beach to swim which was the overall consensus of the players. At the beach Gordon Sandiford, a B2 (partially blind) player “encountered difficulty” and had to be helped out of the water. He was frothing through his mouth and nose; he was not talking and breathing.
The paramedics after performing on him felt a pulse and immediately transferred him to the ambulance which left for the hospital. Unfortunately he passed away on the way to the hospital.