One day after a boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean resulting in a 26-year-old fisherman going missing, family members are clinging to hope that the man is still alive and are urging more persons to volunteer in the search-and-rescue mission to find him.
Missing: Suraj Daneshwar
Missing is Suraj Daneshwar, a father of one of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice (WBB), who has been working in the fishing industry for the past five years.
According to the Police, Daneshwar, along with the boat’s captain, Oneil Deputron, about 05:00h on Tuesday left the three-door koker at Rosignol, and headed for sea, in a 36-foot wooden boat equipped with a 40-horsepower engine.
About 08:20h on Wednesday, Deputron went to the Blairmont Police Station, where he reported that about 21:00h on Tuesday while returning from sea – in the vicinity of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice (WCB) – about four miles offshore – a large wave hit the boat.
This caused the vessel to capsize and resulted in both himself and the now missing man falling into the deep sea.
Deputron related that about 10 to 15 seconds after, he managed to resurface and held onto the boat and upon looking for Daneshwar, he did not see him. The man further stated that the boat began to drift further into the sea with him until he was rescued by another fishing boat.
The vessel has since been recovered and brought to shore, but there were no signs of the missing fisherman.
A search-and-rescue team went out into the ocean on Thursday to continue the search, but up to news time, there was still no sight of the missing man.
The search-and-rescue team comprised four vessels – one belonging to the Coast Guard while three were volunteers. Up to 14:00h today, all but one volunteer had given up on the search.
Family members said based on expert advice provided by local fisherfolk, the missing fisherman might have drifted into the Berbice River – given the direction of the tides.
As such, the family is pleading with persons to volunteer to search the Berbice River in a bid to find the man who they hope is still alive.
Guyana Times was informed that during Thursday’s search, the vessels covered the area from the mouth of the Berbice River all the way to the Mahaica area in the Atlantic Ocean.
Meanwhile, local authorities are still searching for three fishermen who went missing after the vessel they were working on capsized in the Atlantic Ocean on March 9.
