Relatives transfer surviving rescue team fisherman from GPH
DANESHWAR Reddy, the lone fisherman found alive, to date, after a failed rescue mission in the Essequibo River last Saturday, remains in a stable condition. But, yesterday, his relatives removed him from the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) to a private hospital, also in the city.
When last seen at the GPH, the burly Reddy, also called ‘Smallie’, had several patches of plaster about his body and complained of pains in the abdomen and other parts.
He said he suffered burns from hot gasoline, about his chest, back, abdomen and shoulder, when their boat was sinking.
He also told of being cold and hungry in the murky waters throughout the ordeal and recalled having involuntarily ingested a lot of salt water.  When discovered, he was badly bruised and unable to see.
Having struggled through the pitch black night, he was taken from the deep the following day, by a group of fishermen aback of  Jibb/Paradise. They rushed Reddy, suffering cramps, to Charity Hospital, where he was treated and, subsequently, transferred to Suddie Hospital, also on the Essequibo Coast.
His relatives, as they prepared to take him away from the GPH yesterday, said they were all grateful that his life was spared and thankful for medical treatment he received from Sunday to his time of discharge from there.
When contacted, GPH Public Relations Officer, Ms. Alero Proctor said she was unaware that his family had signed the relevant documentation and the patient had left the institution but promised to look into the matter soonest.
When tragedy struck, Reddy was amongst a five-member fisherfolk taking an outboard engine to rescue their colleagues who were attacked and robbed by pirates on Friday.
Relatives related, on Saturday afternoon, that the boat in which the men were travelling, encountered turbulence in the Atlantic Ocean and sank aback of Perth/Dartmouth, also on the Essequibo Coast.
The fisherman of  33 years experience, recounting how he managed to survive a harrowing 22-odd hours ordeal in the Atlantic, from Saturday afternoon to late Sunday, said death stared him in the face as the boat went down and he and the others struggled.
They held on to the vessel and he tightly clutched a small gasolene container which, initially, kept him afloat until the lid came off and he was forced to utilise all the seaman skills he possessed.
Meanwhile, the bodies of two of the other men who drowned were recovered earlier this week. Washed ashore at Devonshire Castle, on Essequibo Coast, as well, were Kumar Narine and Richard Smith, both from East Coast Demerara.
Two others, Damodar Khemraj and Shafeek Khan were still missing yesterday afternoon and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) continue to search for them.