THE Speed Boat Association at Parika is refuting media reports that the ‘Tide Runner’ speed boat sank on April 25, but said while the passenger vessel experienced a minor difficulty, its captain skillfully manoeuvred to the bank of Hogg Island, allowing passengers to disembark and then safely lodged the vessel.

An article published in the Guyana Chronicle on April 26 under the headline ‘Passenger vessel sinks near Hogg Island’ reported that the vessel sank shortly after departing Supenaam for Parika in the Essequibo River that Wednesday morning.
However, Secretary of the Speed Boat Association, Parika, Curtis Adams told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday that the boat left Supenaam en route to Parika, and while the boat was in the vicinity of Leguan, the captain observed a funny sound coming from the engine; he then stopped the throttle.

As a result, a small piece of the cotton used to block the seam was removed from below one of the seats, causing water to slowly seep in. Adams said the Captain, who was not the boat’s usual captain, thought it would be dangerous to cross from Leguan to Parika, and acted wisely by taking the vessel on the flat at the bank of Hogg Island, to ensure all passengers were safe and avoid the boat sinking.

“The cotton probably didn’t fit properly and with the stomping it might have come out,” Adams assumed. He, however, assured the Guyana Chronicle that no passenger lost anything and no one was injured. “It didn’t go down… he would have taken it unto the flat… the bank, the flat there next to the bushes, and rested there because the tide was low. It was the proper thing to do,” Adams explained.

“Tide Runner hasn’t been involved in any tragedy or so on. It was kind of a minor something. It happens sometimes. What we have to do is make periodical checks to these boats,” Adams told the Guyana Chronicle.