…as fishing vessel, speedboat collide in Atlantic Ocean
By Nafeeza Yahya
AT least one person is confirmed dead, one is hospitalised, and several are nursing minor injuries and an unknown number are missing, following a boat collision in the Atlantic Ocean around midnight last Thursday.
The accident, which occurred in Suriname waters in an area known as ‘Long Pole’, involved a fishing vessel with Guyanese fishermen onboard and a speedboat that was heading towards Guyana’s shores.
According to Ravindra Persaud, 23, one of the five crew members aboard the Rosanna One, they were awaken at around midnight by a loud crashing sound and came out with their flashlights but did not see anything. However, moments later, they realised the fishing vessel was sinking.
They decided to cut their seine and started the engine to try to reach the shore but the damage was too much and the boat began to go down. In another bid to make it to shore, the survivors related that they took out one of the engines and affixed it to the “ice box” and tried to use it as a lifeboat but given the weight of the five men in such a small space, the box capsized, throwing everyone overboard.
“After the boat start go down, we empty the ice box and put on one engine on it but just as we try to drive off the whole ice box topple and everybody fall out,” another crew member identified as Sukhpaul Kaiso, related.
The men, unable to swim to shore, clung on to the capsized icebox for over three hours until they heard another boat passing. Being in the water and having to stay afloat along with heavy downpour took a toll on the tired men but they mustered the energy to shout and get the attention of the passing vessel.
However as they were about to board the rescue vessel, their captain and father of Ravindra, Rudra Persaud, 51, took his last breath. The men related he was getting cramps and was slipping in an out of consciousness. Eventually the men got on to the rescue vessel and managed to pull the lifeless body of their captain on-board.
As the men were about to depart from the crash site, they assisted to pull up the seine from the rescue vessel which had to be cut earlier to save the men. While doing this, they saw a piece of the front of a wooden speedboat in the seine which they believed to be the boat that crashed into them. The men checked but found no signs of anyone else in the waters or other parts of the boat due to poor visibility. They eventually managed to contact the owner of the Rosanna One and made arrangements for another boat to retrieve them. Those rescued were Sukhpaul Kaiso, 26, of Number 77 Housing Scheme; Shazad Ali, 17; Ravindra Persaud, 23; and Premdat Sohan of Number 55 Village. Sohan remains hospitalised nursing a broken rib. The men left shore on Thursday last and were expected to be back home for the Mother’s Day weekend. Another boat has since been sent back to the crash site to comb the area for possible survivors from the crashed speedboat.
