A New Amsterdam family has been plunged into mourning, following the death of 14-year-old Abdool Yassim who drowned in the Berbice River on Sunday.
What was supposed to be a cool dip in the river on a warm Sunday afternoon, turned deadly for the Canje Secondary School student who left his home shortly after 12 noon in the company of four friends to go and swim at the Bermine Management Centre, located immediately behind his house.
The five young men aged 20 to 10 years old, spent some two hours at the swimming pool then decided they would go and swim in the Berbice River. It was while swimming near the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling, that young Abdool fondly known to family and friends as ‘Sonny’, lost his life.
Twenty-year-old Orlando Adams, the eldest of the boys, recounting what happened, said the younger boys were not strong swimmers and thus used jars (large bottles) to help them stay afloat.
Growing tired after swimming and playing in the water for hours, Orlando said, he decided to take a nap on one of the boats docked at the ferry stelling as the other boys continued with their fun and frolic in the river.
Yassim, wanting to amplify his fun by diving, climbed onto another boat and plunged into the river. Unfortunately, he inaccurately estimated the distance between two boats marooned at the wharf and hit his head on one and lost consciousness.
When the other boys realised he had hit his head and was drowning, they attempted to save him, but were unsuccessful as the current pulled him under. They then quickly informed his family and reported the incident at the ‘B’ Division Central Police Station.
When Stabroek News visited the Yassims’ residence at Lot 17 Ferry Street, New Amsterdam, his 73-year-old grandmother, Koolachnie Jagroop called Rajmat, related how the family became aware of his demise. “Me nah know really… me been deh cook… Dem does use to go pool fuh swim. He tell he mother he wan go waterside with he friends dem fuh bathe and he want wan jar.”
She explained they only have one five-gallon jar, and she was reluctant to let him take it, for fear he would give it away to his friends. Nevertheless, she relented after assuming he was going to buy much needed kerosene for the home and urged him to wash the bottle before using it.
She was unaware he was going to the river to swim. It was only when Yassim’s younger cousin Jimmy came running up the road screaming, “Mammy! Mammy! Do quick! Sonny drown!” that she became aware of where he was and what he was doing.
Sonny’s mother Bibi Nesha Yassim, on hearing the news, was inconsolable. She immediately ran to the wharf and would not move until her son’s body was recovered several hours after the incident. “Me daughter run go and she say she nah come home till she find she pickney… If a four, five day, she a lay down right there till she find he.”
It was late Sunday night when his body was found and his mother returned home. In tears, Koolachnie said she believed Sonny was truly dead only when her daughter returned home without him.
Sonny leaves to mourn his mother, grandmother and 15-year-old sister Bibi Nazeema.
