Boat owner, Winston Goriah, 51, of 8 Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara, yesterday appealed to members of the public who may have information regarding his missing fishing boat and crew of three to contact him.
He told the Guyana Chronicle that the three crew members: Captain Girjoedhan Surujpaul, his brother, Jairam Paul Surujpaul, both of 5 Vigilance, and their cousin, Lochan Teserdeen of 38 Bladen Hall, East Coast Demerara, are missing after leaving for sea on a four-day fishing trip.
They were onboard ‘Captain Sunil’, which is red and grey in colour and equipped with a 40 horsepower Yamaha engine and 400 lbs of seine.
Mr. Goriah added that the boat and crew left Stratsphey, East Coast Demerara foreshore two Saturdays ago, and were expected to return on Tuesday.
The boat owner explained that it is only a month since he quitted his job at the Guyana Fisheries as a security guard and bought the fishing boat to earn a living.
He said that he gave the boat captain a cellular phone to take along but when he tried dialing the number after the men did not return when expected, there was no reply.
After two searches in a boat at sea, Goriah said he contacted “Flights of Hope” and went on an aerial search.
He added that the pilot, Mr. Orlando Charles flew for about two hours, combing the Atlantic but the search came up empty handed once again.
The pilot, Orlando Charles, is attached to Air Services based at Ogle Aerodrome, East Coast Demerara, but also flies for “Flights of Hope” in humanitarian missions. The search operation with Mr. Goriah was his first.
Mr. Charles noted that the trip was a bit scary and it was rather unfortunate they did not locate the boat and the crew.
He pointed out that the trip is free of cost and the airplane, a single engine Cessna 172, is usually parked at Ogle Aerodrome and was donated to “Flights of Hope” by a pilot, Mr. Premnauth Mohanlall, who is the owner of the L Mart Furniture Store located on Quamina Street, Georgetown.
Mr. Goriah can be contacted on telephone numbers 270-1063; 681-3569 0r 274-0910.