A Corriverton, Berbice man was crushed to death yesterday morning at Number One Caroni, Suriname after two Guyanese fishing vessels were attacked by two armed men, who stole one of the vessels and escaped.

At about 8.30am yesterday, police said in a release late last night, “Guyanese crew members of two fishing boats operating in the No.1 Caroni, Suriname, area were attacked by two men armed with a shotgun and a cutlass during which fisherman Satrohan Jagdeep Persaud, 53 years of Little India Squatting Area, Corriverton, fell overboard and was squeezed between two boats resulting in his death.”

It was reported, police said, that fishing boat, Anna, captained by Chandradat Harrynauth, 47, of Number 73 Village, Corriverton, along with a crew of four men were fishing when a boat with the two armed men came alongside. Harrynauth and his crew were held at gunpoint and the intruders “took over” their boat which had a 48hp outboard motor engine and 2,400 pounds of seine.

The armed men, police further reported, then sailed Anna towing their original vessel alongside and subsequently approached the second Guyanese fishing boat, Nazia captained by Ricky Barry, 35, of Crabwood Creek, Corriverton. Barry’s vessel also had a crew of four men which included the deceased.

“The armed men used the boat Anna to ram the fishing boat ‘Nazia’ which caused Satrohan Jagdeep Persaud to fall overboard between the two boats,” police reported. Jagdeep sustained injuries to his head and other parts of his body.

The two armed men, according to the police, then relieved Nazia of a quantity of fish glue and its engine lead. Anna’s crew members and captain were placed on the incapacitated Nazia. The attackers proceeded to remove the engine from their original vessel which they then sank before escaping aboard the Anna.

Persaud’s body was pulled aboard by the fishermen who managed to reach the Number 66 Fishing Complex at Corentyne. Police were up to late last night hunting the perpetrators as investigations into the incident continued.

Persaud’s body, they said, is at the Skeldon Hospital Mortuary.