Missing boy found, girls still unaccounted for
THE BODY of one of three persons feared drowned after the speedboat in which they were travelling late Friday capsized aback the Watooka Club on the Upper Demerara River was recovered yesterday. The remains of six-year-old Quacy Miggins , a pupil of Regma Primary School, was found just after 13.00h, in the vicinity of the docks at Bosai Minerals Guyana Group, some 500 metres away from where the mishap occurred shortly before 18:00h, and where he and 12-year-old Mackenzie High School student, Melinda Duggan and 20-year-old Kishana Hollingsworth, both of Wismar, all went under in the murky waters of the Demerara River.

The trio was part of group headed by boat from Wismar for a Fun Day organized across the river at Linden in celebration of Diwali, an event that is known for the triumph of good over evil and is marked by a Festival of Lights.

Though public-spirited citizens rushed to the aid of those perceived to be in trouble as the boat capsized, it was not until they took a head-count that it was discovered that the three youngsters were missing, and launched a futile search for them.

Again yesterday, relatives kept vigil until well into the night in the hope of recovering their loved ones, but only young Quacy’ body surfaced and was taken to the Linden Hospital Complex at Mackenzie before being whisked away to the Wismar Hospital mortuary.

According to Junior Barrett, who was part of the search-and-rescue party when the boat went under: “When the speedboat was coming in, it was coming in rash, so when it turned… as he (the captain) eased off, everybody leaned on one side and the whole boat turned over.

“As soon as we see the boat turn over, I jumped on the jet ski…There were a lot of people right there on the shore looking on who did nothing. So me and Mark [Sullivan] just go on the jet ski and we start helping all who were under the boat. I went under to see if there was anyone, but I didn’t see anyone.
“Mark also went under, and we turned to get all we could on top the boat and then we moved whoever we got and brought them and put them on the land.”
The young man added: “When we went out back, we picked up another lady, and we then searched for the little boy without success. When I hear that a lady’s niece had drowned, we went again but found no one after we had turned over the boat.”

It was noted too that no alarm was raised immediately after the boat turned over in the water.
The police are investigating the incident.