– call for more protection
By Shemuel Fanfair
Piracy has plagued the high seas for a number of years with many seamen meeting a callous end as several of them have lost their lives, miles off the coastland. The latest attack by pirates was recorded at the mouth of the Waini River, some 10 miles off the Essequibo Coast into the Atlantic.
On Wednesday, Guyana Times met with three of the terrorised West Coast Demerara fishermen who called for more Coast Guard protection on the Atlantic Coast as they recalled the harrowing ordeal. Boat Captain, Muneshwar Bissoon, and some of his crew members returned to their families late Tuesday evening but they are all shaken up by the horror, nearly two weeks after losing millions of dollars at the hands of pirates.
The fishermen gathered at the home of boat owner, “Sharma” at Hague, West Coast Demerara. Captain Bissoon stressed that fishermen should be better protected while plying their trade.
“The Coast only running up to Waini head. They need to come out and go to the deep sea itself. That’s what the [pirates] know because the coast guard only going up to a point; they have to a get boat which could go in the roughness of the water,” the Captain stressed.
Their ordeal all started when a white fibre glass boat pulled up alongside theirs which carried what was described as having a “big sounding” engine. The captain was dealt a chop to the head and lip while crew members Nazeer Mohamed and Satesh Bisson were hit to the back and about the body.
They were all forced to lie face down and the finger of another crew member was severed. He was airlifted to Georgetown after spending several days at an interior hospital. The seamen told Guyana Times that they are fearful of returning to sea.
“The thing got you trembly like, because them man broadside up we,” Nazeer indicated.
