Policeman drowns during boat mishap in Berbice River

A Police Corporal died on Saturday morning after falling into the Berbice River.
Dead is 43-year-old Chakumba Scipio, who was attached to Central Police Station in New Amsterdam and of Angoy’s Avenue, also in the same town.
Reports are the incident occurred at about 09:30h when a group of Police ranks were on their way to conduct investigations into several reports of theft in communities along the Berbice River.

According to the police report, the team, under the command of a Chief Inspector, left New Amsterdam en route to Sand Hills in a police vessel, which was captained by the now dead rank, who was a certified coxswain.
While in the vicinity of Bermine, the boat suddenly began to sway, resulting in Scipio falling overboard and going underwater.
Despite efforts to rescue Scipio, ranks found his body hours later with the help of the Coast Guards.
The officer’s grieving brother, Cleveland Scipio, told reporters that he was at work when he received information about the incident.
“They told me that he fell off the boat. I went down by the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling and some of his colleagues told me what happened,” he related.
According to the grieving brother, Scipio did not want to be a part of Saturday’s trip.
“We spoke up to Friday night and he told me that he did not want to go on this trip. However, he is a police officer and that is his job, when duty calls, they gotta do what they gotta do,” the brother noted.
Corporal Scipio was described as a “superdad” to his three children, whom he had been taking care of alone after his wife died several years ago. He had also been supporting his only brother after their parents passed away.
The body of the 43-year-old rank is presently at the Arokium Funeral Parlour awaiting a post-mortem examination. Meanwhile, the police have launched an investigation into the incident. Scipio, who joined the GPF in 1999, was the divisional electrician and coxswain.