– she called me a ‘spoilsport’, mother recalls
Seven-year-old Deanna Ramjit of Bush Lot, West Berbice, one of three persons who perished in the boat mishap in the Abary Creek on Wednesday was excited about the trip and had begged her mother to take her.
Deanna had even jokingly called her mother, Carol Ramjit, a “spoilsport” because she did not “want to go anywhere”. Carol told Stabroek News yesterday that persons who knew her well were shocked to hear she had gone on the trip as she does not normally go anywhere.
The distraught Carol, a teacher at the Lachmansingh Primary School told this newspaper that she took the day off from school to take her children on the trip just to make them happy.
Carol, who was also Deanna’s teacher in Grade Three, said the child was very precious and loving and said she was “close to me,” recalling that they went to and from school together.
She recounted that she, along with Deanna and her other two daughters, Dania, 13 and Vivia, 5, said goodbye to her uncle, Arnold Persaud who lives next door before leaving and he told them to “have a good time and remember to put on your lifejackets”.
However, the women and children aboard the boat that was captained by Jainarine ‘Satesh’ Koshilla, 32, a mechanic also of Bush Lot were not wearing any lifejackets.
Sharda Singh, 37, of Number Two Settlement, Blairmont also perished in the catastrophe.
It is not clear if any lifejackets were available but this newspaper understands that the boat just had to travel a short distance to get to the left bank of the creek.
The dead persons were part of a group that left Bush Lot around 8.30 am on Wednesday to go on a picnic. They travelled by land along the Onverwagt dam and continued on the “all-weather road.”
Unfortunately, before they could have reached their destination the wooden boat started “to take in water” and capsized. This caused panic and screams among everyone including those who were waiting their turn to cross with the boat.
In recounting what transpired, Carol, said she had been sitting close to Dania and Vivia while Deanna was at the back with relatives when tragedy struck.
She said everyone formed a circle and started to drift to shore. She held on to Vivia and kept lifting her head above the water as rescuers pulled them to safety.
Koshilla had just rescued his eight-year-old daughter, Angelina and had gone back to save Deanna when he went under, according to his wife, Natasha.
Singh was taken out of the water alive and was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she succumbed while receiving treatment, relatives said yesterday.
A rescue team used a “hook with a long line during a lengthy search”
to pull out the bodies of Ramjit and Koshilla, separately, a few hours after the mishap.
Singh’s mother, Dularie Singh recalled that her daughter left home around 8 am to join the others at Bush Lot for the trip which turned tragic.
According to the woman, who is here on holiday from Canada, she remained at home with Singh’s four-year-old son, Alex.
The distressed woman told this newspaper that she had travelled to Guyana with several other relatives from Canada to dispose of her father’s ashes.
Singh also leaves to mourn her children, Anthony, 19; Maria, 17; Chris, 14 and seven-year-old Kevin who reside in America.
A relative said she desperately kept dialing 911 and when a female finally answered she promised to send police from Mahicony with a boat. However the promise never materialized and according to the relative police only visited the area after 5 pm “to take statements.”
Meanwhile in October last, six persons lost their lives in the Corentyne River after the “backtrack” speedboat they were travelling in from Suriname hooked on a fishing seine.
Among them was Sheila Gonsalves, 64, who had travelled to Guyana from New York with sister, Sherry Haynes to dispose of their brother’s ashes.
Haynes, a nurse, who had been wearing a lifejacket, miraculously survived the mishap by clinging to a bucket for 36 hours. Another survivor, Leslie Austin managed to swim safely to shore about two hours later after efforts he made to save the others failed.
The others who died in that mishap were owner/captain of the boat, Roy Ramdass, 47, Henry Gonsalves of New Amsterdam; Indranie ‘Birdlady’ Motiram, 49, of Crabwood Creek; Ena Hope, 34, of Number 78 Village, Corriverton; Drupatie Bahagiloo called Nalini Ganpat, 45, of Hampshire, Corentyne.
