The man who drowned at Itaballi on Sunday has been identified as 22-year-old Kurt Andrew Thornhill.
An MIS Technician at Trans Guyana Airways, Thornhill left his 239 Section C Enterprise (West), East Coast Demerara home with his friend and girlfriend and travelled to Bartica for the Regatta.
Longtime friend William Jacobs, 26, who witnessed Thornhill’s tragic death, told Stabroek News that when they arrived in Bartica their room had already been taken because they had made the reservations late. He said he has an aunt who resides at Seventh Avenue, Bartica and so the group went there.
According to Jacobs, on Saturday, his aunt was travelling to Itaballi and suggested that they come along. On Sunday morning, he said they travelled to Bartica to pick up some luggage and then back to Itaballi. While in Itaballi, the group played cricket, had a snack of hotdog and drinks and then went into the water. Jacobs said at around midday, the water was high and he and Thornhill went to designate a no pass line since they were the tallest in the group and the other members of the group could not swim.
After having some fun in the water, two persons from the group returned to the beach, leaving Jacobs, Thornhill and his girlfriend in the water. Jacobs said he eventually returned to the beach and had been laying on the sand, when “I heard a sudden burst calling my name hollering for help.” It was Thornhill’s girlfriend. The couple had swum further out into the river.
Jacobs said he then shouted for help but because the couple was still visible and did not seem to be in danger, he surmised that the other persons on the beach did not heed his call.
According to Jacobs, Thornhill’s girlfriend continued shouting for help and as she begun to panic, he saw Thornhill attempting to keep her calm while leading her back to the shore. “He was trying to get her to a safe point and then the little children around swim out and brought her in shore,” he recalled. As the girlfriend made her way to safety, Thornhill started to drift further from the shore even as the tide ebbed.
Choking up with tears, Jacobs said he saw his friend go under the water twice. He said by the time persons on the shore realised what was happening and scrambled to untie a boat to attempt a rescue, it was too late.
When Thornhill went under water a third time, his hands remained visible for some time before they disappeared completely under water. It was 1.15pm on Sunday, Jacobs recalled, that he saw his friend for the last time.
Jacobs said he clung to hope that his friend would resurface but it wasn’t until after several vain attempts by locals who dived to find him, that the realisation sank in. “I can’t express in words cause he is everything a friend can be,” a sombre and grief stricken Jacobs said. He said too he cannot now fathom the thought of ever returning to the location but he knows that one day he would have to do it to honour his friend’s memory.
Thornhill’s mother said around 1.30pm she received a telephone call informing her that her son had drowned. The woman said all day Sunday she had tried in vain to contact her son. “He is everything you’d want in a son, mannerly, intelligent…” Thornhill’s father added.
Thornhill’s body was recovered on Monday at 6am and brought to Georgetown. A post mortem examination is expected to be conducted on Friday and funeral services have been set for Saturday.
