By Svetlana Marshall

A THREE-year-old boy and his father are now dead after the boat they were in capsized on the Essequibo River on Sunday afternoon.

Dead are Rudolph Dyal and his father, 38-year-old Michael Dyal. The toddler’s body surfaced shortly after the accident, but his father’s was only retrieved yesterday afternoon.
Seven other persons, including a one-year-old baby boy, survived the tragic accident that occurred approximately five miles away from the Chiney Landing area on the Essequibo River.

The survivors include the boat’s captain, 27-year-old Titon Andries; his mother, 68-year-old Ethel Andries; his father, Andrew Benjamin; his one-year-old son; his wife; and 10-year-old foster daughter, Alicia Oswald. Thirteen-year-old Naomi Marcello, who is the aunt of the dead toddler, was also involved in the accident.

Dyal and his family, who reside at Mabura Hill, in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), were visiting the area, while Andries and his family reside at Chiney Landing.

Titon Andries, who has been a boat captain for approximately eight years, told the Guyana Chronicle that they were returning to Chiney Landing at around 15:00 hrs on Sunday when tragedy struck.

ENGINE TROUBLE
“We had already passed two falls, and was about to clear de third falls; but when we reach at de top ah de falls, de engine cut off and we end up going down back, causing the boat to sink,” he recalled.

Upon realising what was happening, Andries said he held on to his one-year-old son and swam to safety. He said his family survived

the ordeal, but noted that it was not long after that they realised that little Rudolph had been washed ashore, while his father was missing.

“We were there stranded; the boat, engine and everything wash way, so we had no way of getting back to the landing,” Andries said. They were subsequently rescued by his brother, who took them to Chiney Landing before transporting them to the Mabura Hill Police Outpost, where a report was made.

Andries’ parents, however, remained at the accident site in the hope of finding Michael Dyal.
Still traumatised, Marcello, who hails from Lethem, in Region 9 (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), recalled that after the boat started sinking, she held on to her nephew but his father took him away before drowning. “I had him, I had him,” she said, adding that although she pleaded with Michael to leave the child with her, he still took him away.

SAVED BY LITTLE GIRL
But Marcello said she too needed saving. “After a while, I started going down, and a li’l girl, she was far away, but she come back and save me,” she recalled. The ‘li’l girl’ at reference was 10-year-old Alicia Oswald, who was also in the boat at the time of the accident. She was reportedly close to the riverbank when she realised that Marcello needed help.

Meanwhile, Rudolph’s mother, 34-year-old Lucilda Ignatius, said she was back at a camp site in the vicinity of Chiney Landing when the accident occurred. “I didn’t go with them; I did cooking. Michael seh he want go and see de place but I tell he not to go but he insisted,” she told Guyana Chronicle yesterday.

“He said he carrying Rudolph, I said no but then I put on de child clothes and send he…I even send my lil sista Naomi after she begged me to go,” the distraught mother recalled. The trio along with Andries and his family had reportedly left Chiney Landing at about 10:00 hrs on Saturday to go ‘down the river.’ “I couldn’t believe what happen when dem come back Monday fuh tell me meh son and husband dead. They lost their boat and everything but I lost meh son and meh husband.”

They had left their Mabura Hill home on Saturday and journeyed to Chiney Landing to visit relatives in the area. Dyal and Ignatius shared an eight-year relationship and they had Rudolph. However, Ignatius has six children while Dyal had five children, including little Rudolph. To provide for his family, the 38-year-old father not only worked with Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL), Mabura Hill by pulling out rejected wood at the sawmill, but he sold snacks as well. He reportedly did not know how to swim.

Ranks of the Guyana Police Force operating in the interior location are currently conducting an investigation into the accident and drowning.