Miner feared dead after falling off boat’s bow

The Police in Regional Division Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) have launched an investigation after a miner, who is commonly known only as ‘Brother Ken’, is suspected to have drowned at Matouk Falls, Cuyuni River, on Wednesday.
Preliminary reports state that the missing man, who hailed from Karrau Village, Mazaruni River, was shuttling fuel with a metal boat which was powered by two 75 HP Yamaha outboard engines and was captained by Pargia Gibson.
On their return journey after offloading the fuel, one of the engines developed a mechanical problem, thus causing the boat to start drifting while at the same time taking in water.
As such, “Brother Ken” reportedly went to the bow of the boat and attempted to tie the boat to a nearby rock, but while doing so, he allegedly slipped and fell overboard.
A search was launched by the boat operator with the assistance of a passing boat, but he was not found. The matter was reported, and a team of Police ranks travelled to the area to assist in the search-and-rescue mission.
Earlier in the month, the body of 54-year-old Lakeram Kuber of Belle Plaine, Wakenaam Island, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), was pulled from the Essequibo River two days after the boat in which he was travelling capsized.
It was reported that the boat had left Wakenaam Island with Feroze Amin of Good Success and 54-year-old Lakeram Kuber of Belle Plaine to collect a friend, Floyd Dazzell, at Supenaam. It was on their way back to Wakenaam that the boat capsized and went down.
Dazzell and Amin managed to swim to the Wakenaam shore safely, but Kuber went missing.
In another incident earlier in the year, 19-year-old miner Renaldo Rampersaud died after the boat in which he was travelling capsized in the Mazaruni River between Luw Luw Island Point and Banana Landing, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Rampersaud and another miner had left the Cashew Creek Backdam in a canoe, and had gone to Banana Landing, where they had purchased some items. The Police have said that while the men were paddling the canoe back to the backdam, it began taking in water, and eventually sank.
The other man managed to swim to shore, but Rampersaud went underwater and did not resurface. A search party was then launched, and the body was recovered in the same area where he had gone under.