A 19-year-old man died over the weekend reportedly as a result of drowning in a mined out pool not far from a mining concession in Arimu Top, Cuyuni where he had gone to take a bath after consuming alcohol.

The body of John Parks, originally from the Rupununi village, Yupukari, was pulled out of the pool early yesterday morning by two of his co-workers.

Owner of the mining concession, Terrence Parahoo, who was not in the area when the incident happened, told Stabroek News that reports indicate that Parks and five other co-workers closed operations on Thursday and while three of them -including the manager- left for the city that day the young man and two others remained.

On Saturday night the three visited a shop in the Region Seven area where they consumed alcohol and upon returning to the camp Parks decided to take a bath in the pool, which is said to be about 15 feet deep.

The two others proceeded to the camp about 500 feet from the pool and retired to bed. When Parks was not seen the following morning they launched a search and his body was found some hours after when it reportedly floated up.

The body was then taken to Bartica-about 43 miles from the mining concession- and then later to Georgetown and is now at the Lyken Funeral Home awaiting a post-mortem examination as police conduct an investigation.

While Parks had only been working with Parahoo for about two and a half months he has been in the area for about two years, according to his family, and had worked with other dredge owners. His relatives said they only learnt of his death at around 11 am yesterday.

Meanwhile, Parahoo told Stabroek News that he is still laid up in bed with a bullet wound he suffered during a robbery on December 30th last year.

On that day two armed men shot and wounded Parahoo outside of German’s Restaurant on New Market Street.

At the time it was believed the men had watched the miner during his business transactions in the city.

Parahoo, age 42 years of the East Bank was shot in the left leg and lost consciousness shortly after he had arrived at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Parahoo, who was in the company of his wife and 5-year-old granddaughter, had fought with his attackers prior to being wounded.

The men escaped with a bag containing just over $1.2M dollars, money which Carmen Parahoo had said was meant to pay workers and clear debts. “Is everything they gone with, we Christmas, we New Year, everything”, the woman had told Stabroek News.