POLICE ranks and public-spirited residents from Wismar, Linden, up to press time were in a frantic search to locate Esther Weekes, 19, of Silvertown, Wismar, who is believed to have drowned in the Upper Demerara River while swimming with relatives and friends around 13:00 hrs on Sunday.
Commander of ‘E’ Division, Fazil Karimbaksh, confirmed the incident and said after dark, there has been no sign of the teen.
Weekes was at the time in the company of her aunt and other relatives swimming in the river in the vicinity of the River View Hotel on Burnham Drive when she went on into the deep part of the river.
“She was unable to swim, she went down and disappeared under the water,” the commander said. Those with her were unable to render assistance, since they too were unable to swim in the deep.
The police were alerted and a search was carried out, but it proved unsuccessful. When reporters visited the home of the former Christianburg Wismar Secondary School student, relatives were wailing loudly, but her aunt Sherryann DeYounge was able to explain what had occurred even as she tried to compose herself.
The visibly distraught woman said the group was bathing at the river and apparently her son fell in a doze.
“Me in know if she go to hold him or what, but both of them go down… and I just keep telling them push towards land because I can’t swim and me son push towards land, but like she couldn’t push towards land and that was it,” she said. The police will continue the search for the teen on Monday.
Over the years, many persons have drowned in the Upper Demerara River while swimming. While it is a regular habit for residents along Burnham Drive to use the water to bathe and for other domestic purposes, residents and the police are calling for more precautions to be taken, especially when swimming in the deeper parts of the river.