“Something doesn’t seem right” – family awaits PME as body of missing boat captain found

Thirteen days of searching for missing boat captain Carl Subratie culminated with his body being discovered on Thursday at around 12:00h below Marshall’s Falls in the Lower Mazaruni River, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Subratie, 61, of Palmer’s Point, Lower Mazaruni River, had been reported missing by his family when he failed to return home on June 17 after having left his residence to transport a group of passengers to an interior location.
According to Sameena Subratie, the man’s daughter, her father had lived alone, and had been working as a boat captain for the past 27 years, primarily operating in various interior locations.
The family grew concerned on Father’s Day, the day after he left home, when attempts to contact him on his mobile phone were unsuccessful. Despite continuous calls being made until Monday morning, there was no response, prompting Sameena to reach out to her uncles to inform them of the situation.
Subsequently, the boat captain’s brothers visited the location where he had dropped off the passengers, and were informed that he had indeed completed the task and had left the area to return home. Upon the brothers’ return home, they reported the matter to the Police. After several days of searching, the body was discovered.
The Police report noted that the body was found face-down in the river, and exhibited several bruises and lacerations. The report also indicated that the body was in an advanced state of decomposition.
The body was subsequently taken to the Bartica Regional Hospital, where, after examination, a doctor officially pronounced the man dead. The body is now reposed at the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Contacted by <<Guyana Times>> on Friday, the man’s daughter has expressed unease about her father’s death. She said that although her father’s body was found, his boat remains unaccounted for.
Contrary to the Police report, she claimed, her father’s body was not significantly decomposed, and displayed what appeared to be chop wounds.
“His body was okay…I went to identify him. The only parts that looked like something was wrong were the swollen parts that seemed to have chop wounds. Something doesn’t seem right. How can somebody be in the water for 13 days and not be badly decomposed? And we can’t find the boat,” she declared.
While not wanting to jump to conclusions, family members say they will await the results from the autopsy before contemplating their next steps. (LaWanda McAllister)