By Kwesi Isles
The Guyanese couple who went missing on Monday after departing Suriname to fish has been found after a harrowing three days adrift at sea.
Michael Stanley, 50, and his wife Anjanee Ramkumar, 46, have been living in Nickerie for some five years and on Monday morning left the port to go fishing with the intention of returning by 1 pm, a relative told this newspaper on Wednesday.
According to Biswajit Bisnauth, Ramkumar’s brother-in-law, a search was launched later that day by the Surinamese officials when the couple failed to return but there was no sign of them. The couple was found on Thursday morning and relayed a harrowing tale of drifting for days without food and little water, after their engine failed. Stanley said his efforts to fix the engine were unsuccessful. “We drift into deep sea and me cut de seine and try fe anchor but me couldn’t anchor so we drift drift drift till me nuh know wuh country me in,” he told Stabroek News last evening, while saying that they slept in short spells. “Me try fe fish caz we nah had food but yuh put out basket and shark grabble am.”
According to Bisnauth, the couple said when they eventually stopped, they were surrounded by sharks and only had a small bottle of water which was soon used up. “They use a piece plastic to ketch rain water,” he said, adding that the couple’s boat was washed in a little way with the incoming tide but on Tuesday morning they were back out with no sight of land.
Bisnauth related that the couple drifted all day Tuesday and that Stanley started crying because of the predicament they were in. That night the couple saw two red lights when they drifted in and eventually went to sleep with the with the hope that they would be rescued. “When them wake up next day them deh back out again,” he said. He added that the couple said they had seen an aircraft and boats searching for them but that their small craft was too far away to be noticed.
The next day brought more terror for the hapless couple with Bisnauth saying the boat was almost caught in a whirlpool. “Wednesday them see circle water next to the boat and them thought they would die,” he relayed.
According to Bisnauth, they also saw two boats and they tried waving to them but when that did not work Stanley set his pants and shirt on fire to attract their attention, all to no avail.
Another day of drifting with the ebb and flow of the tide ensued. “Yesterday morning (Thursday) they see a fishing boat with a man from Albion. Stanley wave a rain cloak they had and eventually them see them.”
Bisnauth said the fishing crew fed the couple and told them they would take them in after they finished fishing. Eventually, the couple and their boat were dropped off at the Albion koker.
According to Bisnauth, the couple went to the police and relayed their plight and sought assistance to return home. However, they were reportedly told that the ranks could not help them.
“De police seh dem nah gat transportation fe fetch de engine so me go back and de people in de village keep am. Now me nah gat ting fe wuk,” Stanley said.
Bisnauth explained that other relatives who were living in Suriname came over to Guyana on Thursday to collect the couple and returned them home. He said they reported to the Surinamese police and have since had medical checkups with only Ramkumar having any health complaints. “She tell me she had some pain in she skin ’cause them boat ain’t got cover and them sleep in de open,” he said. When asked later about their health, Stanley was full of remorse for the ordeal his wife experienced. “Meh wife, ow, ah too much punishment. She feel ah kinda way.”
Bisnauth extended thanks to the Albion residents who helped the couple and added “we thank God them alive.”
