….crew rescued by trawler, captain in hiding

BUSINESSPERSONS in the community of Port Kaituma in the North West District have been hard hit after a cargo vessel, which was laden with goods, sank several miles off the Essequibo Coast on Thursday.

Reports are that the vessel, the Captain Ricardo, departed a Water Street wharf, close to the former Giftland Store during the wee hours of Thursday morning.
Sometime after, while en-route to Port Kaituma, the vessel developed issues after water started to flood its hull. Reports are that the captain informed his wife of the situation and sometime later, a fishing boat came to their aid.

A businessman in the city told the Guyana Chronicle that the total losses incurred in the incident amounted to close to $100M since many persons sent goods on the trip. He said that the captain and crew of the vessel have since gone into hiding.

He said that he later relayed to business owners that the persons who operated the vessel on Thursday hired it from its owner. The man noted that the owner of the vessel had informed the persons who hired the vessel that it was experiencing mechanical issues and that they should now leave for the seas.

“Right now no one is hearing from this guy Ralph who rented the boat,” the frustrated man noted. He said, too, that businesspersons later found out that ‘Ralph’ knew that the vessel had a problem but he went ahead and loaded the vessel with goods which included groceries, non-perishable items and meat.

Residents of the village of Cullen on the Essequibo Coast reportedly witnessed goods washing ashore there sometime over the weekend and they helped themselves to items which were usable.

In recent time, several cargo vessels sank while en-route to the North West District from the city, a situation which raises questions about the serviceability of such vessels to handle the Atlantic Seas. Businessmen are calling on the authorities to ensure that all vessels, which ferry goods to and from the North West, are sea-worthy.
Late in July 2015, a cargo vessel –the Captain Saffie–sank off the Waini Coast while en-route to the North West District .The four crew members were rescued and taken to safety, the Maritime Administration Department reported at the time.

In November 2018, the cargo vessel–MV Shivita– was headed to Kumaka in the Mabaruma sub-region from a Water Street wharf when it developed engine trouble. The boat started to list around 04:30hrs that Sunday morning and the crew sent out distress messages in a bid to save themselves.

The Guyana Defence Force Coastguard and private boat owners responded to the distress calls and rescued the crew. Millions of dollars in goods were destroyed during that incident.