Saturday, February 3, 2007

by Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: Two people are missing and feared dead after the boat they were traveling in capsized early Friday morning shortly after leaving Guyana bound for Suriname, officials in both countries confirmed.

According to Assistant Commissioner Clinton Conway, Commander of the police in Berbice, Guyana, at about 05.00 hours a Surinamese-owned boat departed from Shareeza Landing # 78 Village, on the Guyanese shore of the Corentyne River with 10 persons aboard. It was still dark and, in the vicinity of Clara Polder, the propeller got entangled with a fishing net, causing the boat to capsize.

Police Commander Kenneth Bruining of the Nickerie police (Suriname) said 8 of the 10 persons on board were rescued. After the accident Suriname police and army dispatched several vessels to execute a search and rescue operation for the missing persons.

It is too early to declare that the missing persons perished said commander Bruining, since in the river there are several small islands those persons could have reached. “We are still searching in the hope of finding these individuals,” he further stated.

Officer Conway revealed that Cheryl Peters, 35, of Mocha, East Bank Demerara and Hansranie Buck, 46, a housewife of Annandale, East Coast Demerara are missing.

One of those rescued Melanie Mohan, 26, of Nabacalis, East Coast Demerara is the daughter of Buck.

The accident happened at the very busy semi-legal, so-called backtrack route between Suriname and Guyana. Everyday hundreds Guyanese and Surinamese nationals use this route to cross the border. According to sources the passengers in the ill-fated vessel didn’t have life jackets when the accident occurred.

Most of these speedboats, which can carry up to 12 persons, usually lack minimal safety standards and life saving equipment. Still numerous people prefer traveling on the backtrack route since the official border crossing at the Surinamese side is about 30 kilometers away.

Suriname and Guyana police, who enjoy a good relationship, are in contact with each other over the accident.

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