No sign of Parika boat captain

Relatives of boat captain Vasdeo Persaud remain hopeful he somehow survived the pirate attack on his vessel last Thursday but continued to hold a wake.

“I can’t tell the world that me brother died because me ain’t see he die,” his sister, Dhanpattie said yesterday. She said they have no new information since Sunday. Persaud is missing and feared drowned after pirates forced him and his crew into the waters off the Venezuelan Coast in a vicious attack on Thursday.

Persaud, 39, of Parika Façade, East Bank Essequibo and a three-man crew left Parika last Tuesday on the fishing boat Sudesh to fish in the Atlantic Ocean. On Thursday, they were attacked by pirates and forced into the waters. The three crewmembers were saved after clinging to a buoy for hours. They said Persaud drowned. One of the fisherman, identified as ‘Pepie’ is hospitalised in Venezuela with burns on his feet, which were sustained in the pirate attack.

Deodat Bissoon, the owner of the Sudesh had told Stabroek News that it is the first time that Persaud was captaining his boat. He said last Tuesday morning, the vessel left Parika with Persaud and three crewmembers and at 8 am last Friday he received a call from someone in Venezuela. He said the person reported that his boat was hijacked while it was off the mouth of a river in Venezuela’s waters.

Bissoon said he was told that at about 11 am on Thursday, four pirates in a vessel approached the Sudesh and shouted to the crew that they wanted them out of the boat. He said the pirates were armed with guns and were not wearing masks. Bissoon said the crew did not come out and went to the back of the Sudesh. However, he said, the pirates sprayed fuel in that area and threw a lighted matchstick or wick but it did not ignite the fuel. By this time, he said, the crew had run to the front of the Sudesh. But the pirates followed and threw fuel there as well. This time, it ignited. Some of the fuel had spilled on the men’s feet and this burned as well, Bissoon said.

With the cabin on fire and their feet burning, the crew jumped into the water.  Bissoon said he was told that there was a buoy about a mile and a half away and the men began to swim in this direction. The men struggled to reach the buoy and one of the crew heard as Persaud cried for help and then disappeared in the water.

The remaining three crewmembers clung to the buoy for hours until they were rescued by a Venezuelan boat. They were taken for medical attention and Pepie was hospitalized.

A search party was looking for Persaud’s body and Bissoon said yesterday it has not been found. He said he was told that the water was rough. Pepie’s relatives reportedly took him out of the Venezuelan hospital yesterday. The two other crewmembers are expected back in the country at the end of this week.