A PRETEEN boy drowned on Friday afternoon while swimming in a canal near his De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara (WCD) home.

Dead is Akon Richards, 11, a student, of Lot 45 De Kinderen, WCD.
Reports indicate that Richards resides with his grandmother and on the aforementioned day, he was with his two younger female cousins, ages five and nine, playing in the rain when he went into the canal to swim.

He later encountered difficulties, was seen struggling to remain above the water and was unsuccessful in returning to the surface. The incident occurred sometime around 15:45hrs.

The cousins, having made the observation, notified their mother of what occurred but were initially ignored.
However, they insisted that their cousin went into the water but did not exit, which caused their mother to commence calling out for the boy and after not receiving a response, she alerted the grandmother.

Together, they continued calling for the boy but were unsuccessful.
A team of family members and neighbours subsequently got together and carried out a search in the said canal.
However, Akon’s body was not found until 22:00hrs. By that time, the police were already on the scene assisting with the search.
Subsequently, the motionless body of the preteen was fished out of the canal by family members and then escorted to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

The body was examined by the police for marks of violence but none were seen. It is presently at the Ezekiel Funeral Parlor awaiting an autopsy.