Men feared dead after boat capsized while illegally entering US

Missing Guyanese in The Bahamas

The four men who allegedly disappeared after travelling to The Bahamas in January are feared dead after a boat that was illegally transporting them to the United States capsized.
The men are Kevin Sukraj, a father of two also called “Davin” of Lot C 40 Block R Sophia, Greater Georgetown; his cousin, Krishna Sukraj, and two friends Rayan Bhodoo and Anil Deonarine.
Initial reports are that the men left Guyana for The Bahamas on a two-week vacation. However, it was reported that on January 10, 2021, Sukraj reportedly contacted his relatives in Guyana and informed them that Police had raided the 2 Sister Hotel at Bimini, Bahamas and confiscated their passports.
The man also accused Bahamian officials of “getting them on a royal run-around to get back their documents.” Further, a sister of Sukraj in an interview with Guyana Times had related that the last time they heard from the father of two was on February 10, 2021, when he allegedly went back to the Police Station to get his passport so that he could return home.

Illegally crossing into US
But after the article was published in Guyana Times on Monday, the publication was provided with a recording between the US Coast Guard and the relatives of Sukraj who are residing overseas.
In that recording, the US Coast Guard was updating the relatives on the search and rescue mission after the four men along with two others had disappeared after the boat in which they were illegally crossing over into the US capsized. The boat reportedly capsized due to bad weather.

During the update, the members of the US Coast Guard were heard telling the relatives of Sukraj that after more than 63 hours of search over a three-day period, there were no signs of the missing men. Several boats and aircraft were used in the mission but all came up empty-handed.
The Coast Guards were also heard informing the relatives that based on the location where the boat went down, swimming to shore is quite impossible. Due to the weather and no sighting of the men, the US Coast Guards had made a decision to suspend the mission.
“I don’t think it’s possible for someone to swim to shore… I am certain that we have exhausted every piece of information and utilised every tool and every resource to the best of our ability…and I am sorry to tell you that we have reached the point where we have made a decision to suspend the search,” a member of the Coast Guard team noted.
The official further stated that there were hundreds of Coast Guards who tried their best to achieve a better outcome.

Boat captain rescued
In fact, in a report posted on February 13, 2021, on WPTV News in Florida captioned “1 person rescued after boat capsizes off Fort Pierce; Coast Guard searching for 6 other people,” it was stated that the boat capsized off Fort Pierce on February 10, 2021 – the same day one of the sisters last heard from her brother Kevin.

It was reported that the lone survivor was the captain of the 18-foot vessel. The captain, Orville Lyons, a Jamaican, was rescued by another boat captained by Chase Cornell.
He recalled seeing Lyons’ hands waving at them. “I didn’t know what to do other than start screaming, ‘There’s a guy in the water up there!’”, he reportedly told the Coast Guards.
Cornell of Southern Eagle Charters in Fort Pierce was at the time on a fishing expedition with a few others. Nevertheless, with the assistance of the others, they reportedly tossed a life ring attached to a rope to Lyons and pulled him to safety.
“We got on the VHF radio and called the Coast Guard who told us to stay with the boat,” Cornell said. “They asked us a bunch of questions about our position I’m assuming so they begin planning a grid search for the others.”
They were about 20 miles offshore of Fort Pierce Inlet.
When contacted on Monday, Geeta Sukraj, who had initially provided Guyana Times with the report, refuted the information that was given to her. She claimed that the family was not aware of the incident and held out that her brother travelled to The Bahamas to spend two weeks and had no intention to illegally enter the US.
Meanwhile, Guyana Times was told that Sukraj’s wife only became aware that he had left Guyana when he called her via telephone from The Bahamas. He reportedly contacted her on the evening of February 10 and told her that he was on a boat heading to the US and promised to call her when he arrived there.
Guyana Times understands that a relative of Sukraj in the US had made all the arrangements for him and the others to illegally enter that country via The Bahamas. In addition, after the Coast Guard would have briefed the family in the US about the possible demise of the men, several relatives flooded social media with messages of comfort.
Attempts to contact the wife of Kevin Sukraj also called “Davin” proved futile. She too took to social media expressing her disbelief and sorrow on the possible death of the father to her two children.