8 injured in Canje River boat collision

…medical outreach team among occupants

Eight people, including two children, were injured on Tuesday afternoon after two boats collided head-on in the Canje River near Baracara, leaving the captain of one of the vessels hospitalised with serious head injuries and the captain of the other in police custody as investigations continue. The collision occurred at about 14:30h in the vicinity of Pat Walla, Canje Creek, approximately two and a half miles from Baracara Village. According to police, one of the vessels involved was a privately operated passenger boat transporting a Health Ministry and Social Services medical outreach team that had just concluded an outreach exercise in the riverain community. The other was an unregistered passenger boat travelling towards Baracara with eight occupants, including several children.
Police said preliminary investigations indicate that the two vessels collided head-on while navigating the waterway.
The captain of the passenger boat travelling to Baracara, 38-year-old Clairmont Amsterdam, sustained serious head injuries in the collision. He was initially taken to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for further medical treatment.
Among those injured aboard Amsterdam’s vessel were his daughter, Clayanna Amsterdam, Mikel Ali Joseph, Oscar Joseph, two children and the other occupants of the boat.
The remaining injured passengers were treated at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital.
Baracara Village Chairman Marshall Thompson told this publication that the Health Ministry had hired two passenger boats to transport its medical outreach team to and from the community.
He explained that one of the boats is owned by a resident of Baracara, while the second is owned by a resident of the Berbice River and was being operated by its owner at the time of the collision.
Thompson said the medical personnel had completed the outreach exercise and were returning from the community when the collision occurred.
Police have since taken the captain of the boat transporting the medical outreach team into custody as investigators continue their probe into the circumstances surrounding the collision.
Investigators are expected to interview the occupants of both vessels as part of the ongoing investigation to determine what led to the crash.
The Health Ministry regularly conducts medical outreaches to remote communities such as Baracara, providing residents with access to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who would otherwise require lengthy journeys to access medical care.
Police investigations are continuing.