‘Angel’ Deanna ‘took the simplest thing and made it into something special’

Relatives of the three persons who perished in the May 27 boat mishap in the Abary Creek are still finding it hard to cope especially since they witnessed it.

Satesh holding the engine while Deanna stands next to Lynette as her sister, Daenia, and another relative get on before the fateful trip.

Tara Mattai, in an interview with this newspaper before returning to Canada said she and several other relatives who were here on holiday would return with a “heavy burden” knowing that the trip was planned because of them.

Still shaken over the incident, Mattai said she always read about tragedies like that in the newspapers or saw it on television but never thought it could happen in her family.

The women and children aboard the boat just before it capsized; looking back at right and waving is Diana Balram.

On that fateful day which was supposed to be “fun-filled,” Sharda Singh, 38, of Blairmont, captain of the boat, Jainarine ‘Satesh’ Kowshilla, 32, and eight-year-old Deanna Ramjit of Bush Lot lost their lives when the boat capsized.

The group left home at around 8:30 am to go on the trip aback Blairmont. They began catching fish which was supposed to be cooked at the picnic, until the boat arrived at around 11:20 am to take them a short distance across to the other side of the creek.

Deanna (second from right) with her parents, Carol and Vijay Ramjit and sisters, Daenia (right) and Vivia.

Mattai, the aunt and great-aunt of and Singh and Deanna respectively recalled that she and the others had come to Guyana to scatter the ashes of her father, Ramjit Ramdohin who died three months ago in Canada. A religious function was also held here in his honour.

“The trip was supposed to be a day to get away and clear our heads and not think about the past three months which was difficult for the family. We didn’t have a death in the family since I lost one of my brothers [at age 23] in a motorcycle accident 33 years ago,” she said.

She left for Canada two Sundays ago but the wonderful memories she shared with relatives here before the catastrophe were all washed away, perhaps by the water in which her relatives screamed desperately for help.

Mattai was not on the boat which was taking the first set of persons – women and children – across but it pained her to watch the boat go down and she could do nothing to help.

Tara Mattai (left) with Lynette Balram and Deanna’s sister, Vivia.

The boat had only just moved off when Kowshilla, an inexperienced captain, started “revving the engine and the front of the boat went down in the water. Everyone started to scream and we shouted for him to stop the engine but the boat was already going down.”

Most of them grabbed onto each other and thankfully her nephew Randy’s wife, Diana Balram, who is a good swimmer kept them afloat until they drifted close to the edge of the creek.

By then Randy as well as Deanna’s father, Vijay and other male relatives who had jumped in the water pulled them to safety.

“It was a very frantic experience and I kept saying to myself that I was stupid; I felt helpless and lost. It is hard to imagine that in a flash all of that happened,” she recounted.

“My sister, Lynette always said to me that I was the strong one [in the family] and would always stay composed but that day I certainly did not feel that way.”

Lynette Balram of Maryland, United States is one of the survivors in the tragedy and the last person to make it out of the water alive. She was struggling to get out as she clung to Sharda and tried to keep her [Sharda’s] head above the water.

Mattai recalled that Sharda who was rescued just before Lynette was in an unconscious state. Relatives performed CPR – Cardiopulmonary resuscitation – on her and “rolled her to get the water out.”

False hope from 911

In the meantime, at around 11:55 after efforts to contact 911 failed, Mattai said Randy drove her and his wife, Diana to a ranch where they borrowed a phone from one of four men. The men were also taken to the site and they assisted in searching for the bodies of Deanna Kowshilla.

Tara remained at the ranch with Diana and she again tried several times until she finally got on to 911 and related their ordeal to a female for about 10 minutes. She asked the female to send help; to even get a helicopter to the area and they would pay for it.

The female promised to send police from the Mahaicony Station with a boat and to return a call to Tara. She waited in vain for a response for one hour and eventually they decided to take Sharda out of the creek.

They visited the Blairmont Estate and got an ambulance to take the woman who was screaming in pain to the New Amsterdam Hospital. She died while receiving treatment.

Lynette also accompanied Sharda in the ambulance and while grateful for the service, she told this newspaper she was disappointed that there was no paramedic on board. Further she said it was not “equipped with oxygen or first aid” so no treatment was administered to them on the way.

At the hospital, while everyone was concentrating on saving Sharda, Lynette did not think she needed to be treated even though she ingested a lot of water.

The news of her death was devastating for Lynette and when this newspaper visited her shortly after she returned from the hospital she was crying inconsolably. Later that night she collapsed and had to be rushed to the Georgetown Hospital.

The Police last week issued a statement in which they said that they had investigated the claims made by Mattai about numerous calls to 911. The police said that the numbers provided by the Kaieteur News to them from which Mattai was said to have made the calls did not show calls being made to 911. Mattai has however told Stabroek News that the numbers the police referred to were not the ones that the numerous 911 calls were made from.

The police press release further explained the actions that were taken that day.

“The Police Force wishes to state that at 1255h on Wednesday May 27, 2009, police ranks on duty at the Brickdam Operations Room received a call from a male caller on the 911 line who reported that a boat had capsized in the Abary River and that two persons had drowned. He hung up before he could have been questioned further.

“Upon receipt of the report the ranks at Brickdam passed on the report to the ranks at the Divisional Operations Room at New Amsterdam, Berbice, as the Abary falls under the jurisdiction of that Division. The information was also passed to the central Force Control Operations Room which is based at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary.

“Two teams of police ranks from Berbice were quickly mobilized. At that time, about 1300h;  the exact location of the river mishap was not known to the police as the male caller had not provided that information. However, one of the teams went to the Onverwagt, WCB, area in an attempt to gain access to the Abary Backlands, but encountered difficulties with the terrain and had to turn back.

“At 1315h one Indira Ramjeet … called the police at the Divisional Operations Room at New Amsterdam through 911 and was able to provide the police with directions to get to the scene. Consequently the second team of ranks, through assistance with an appropriate motor vehicle from GUYSUCO, travelled to the scene of the incident which was some twenty miles into the backlands from the Blairmont, WBB, end.

“They managed to arrive at about 1500h and assisted in the recovery of the bodies of Satesh Kowshilla and Deanna Ramjeet and later proceeded to acquire information on what had transpired, which is normal police procedure. Mattai however disputes this. She told Stabroek News “At no time did the Police or the team from GUYSUCO assist in the recovery of the bodies.  Recovery of the bodies was done by relatives and friends, and the vast community support from Bush Lot, Bath, No. 11, Shieldstown and Blairmont, but most definitely not by the Police.”

The police statement added “The other team of police ranks also subsequently managed to reach the scene via the Blairmont route.”
Deanna
Deanna who was sitting close to Lynette at the back of the boat was nowhere in sight and when her apparent disappearance dawned on everyone a frenzied search began for her. Kowshilla too was never seen again after the boat went down.

Her mother, Carol sat at the edge of the creek wailing, hoping that she would be pulled out alive. “I went down on the grass and prayed and I kept saying that we have to find her…”

But after several hours elapsed her hopes faded with the harsh realization that her daughter had perished. Like any other mother, she kept blaming herself for not protecting the child and being able to save her.

Coping with her daughter’s death was one thing but Carol who was Deanna’s teacher in Grade Three at the Lachmansingh Primary School was dreading the fact that when she returned to school her daughter would not be there.

“It [her demise] is not something that I can put behind me; every time I turn I see her. It is a terrible feeling, one of emptiness,” the mother lamented.

She would remember Deanna as a good artist and actor who was quite contented with whatever she had. Deanna who loved to be among her relatives had begged her mother to take her on the trip.

She had even jokingly called her mother a “spoil sport” because she did not “want to go anywhere.” Carol decided to go along, taking her two other daughters, Daenia, 13 and Vivia, 5, as well just to make Deanna happy.

During the interview at Carol’s house, Tara said she does not know what it feels like to lose a child but she know that Deanna’s parents “would have it tough and I hope they can lean on each other to get through this.”

More than anything, she said, she wants to “remember Sharda and Deanna for how they impacted my life.” She recalled that Deanna took the simplest thing and made it into something special.”

She said she brought a pair of fairy wings, complete with a magic wand and crown for the child and she got dressed with them and rode around the yard pretending she was a fairy and could grant wishes. “Everyone told her she looked like an angel… and that’s what she is now,” Tara said sadly.

About Sharda, Tara reminisced that she “dedicated her life to her five children and ensured that their happiness and comfort were foremost.

She also went out of her way to make everyone feel happy and special.”

Tara was also grateful for the support of the community, recalling that “many people showed up [at the creek] to lend a helping hand, even though it was too late” after word got around about the mishap.