In addition to the missing three-man crew of the cargo vessel the MV Oliver L for whom the search continues, some 23 seamen have been reported missing at sea within the past decade. No trace has ever been found of the men and in most cases, of their vessels either.
Last December Wexton Andrews called ‘Mampy’, 33, of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara (WCD); Ramdat Roopnarine, 38, of Lot 483 Zeelugt, WCD and Claude Burnette, 55, of East Ruimveldt in the city disappeared at sea. Their families were expecting the men home in time for Christmas from Trinidad and Tobago, but after their anticipated time of arrival passed the families grew concerned and subsequently checked almost every possible location for the men.
The vessel left Trinidad and Tobago four days before Christmas and should have arrived in Guyana around Christmas Day.
The government has been spearheading search efforts via the Coastguard, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) which have undertaken search exercises around the coastland and in areas where the men may have been. At the same time the Venezuelan and Trinidadian authorities have been alerted on the issue. Their efforts to date have produced little.
Transport Minister Robeson Benn told this newspaper recently that the authorities have been in contact with the families of the men almost daily, and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been in touch with their Trinidadian and Venezuelan counterparts on the vessel’s disappearance. He described as “worrisome“ the fact that the MV Oliver L was equipped with telecommunications devices, while the crew also had in their possession a satellite phone; as such, therefore, the men should have been able to make contact with the authorities or colleagues.
Benn noted that having adequate forms of communication on board is a requirement of marine vessels.
Kamaldhai Chukoo, Roopnarine‘s wife told Stabroek News last week that she had not given up hope of seeing her husband and father of her children again. She said she has been making checks with the Coastguard as well as the owners of the vessel for any information they may have received on the men’s whereabouts. The relatives of Andrews and Burnette have also followed numerous leads to try and find the men, and they too told this newspaper earlier last week that they would continue to search for them.
But while the Oliver L and its crew have been missing for less than a month, there are other vessels which have been missing at sea since the year 2000.
The Rambarran marine group which operates out of the Meadowbank area on the lower East Bank of Demerara (EBD) suffered a blow to its regional shipping operations when its vessels, the MV Gran Rio ‘R’ and the MV Fiona ‘R’ disappeared at sea without a trace.
The Gran Rio ‘R’ was a 230-foot cargo vessel owned and operated by Dennis Rambarran and was registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines. With a 9-member crew it was en route to the Coco Reef Resort at Crown Point, Tobago, around April 1, 2000 to deliver a consignment of 1,500 tonnes of silica sand when it disappeared. The Coco Reef Resort and beach had been destroyed by a hurricane, and the sand was to have been used to develop a man-made beach.
The crew on board the vessel at the time were Captain Michael Paul, also known as Patrick Paul, 54; Chief Mate Maurice Mangru, 37; Chief Engineer, Indarpaul Latchman, 40; Second Engineer John Carpan, 35, a US citizen; Third Engineer, Phillip Scott, 21; the vessel’s cook, Ravanand Persaud, 33; and Michael Joseph, 28, Muhammed Inshan, 41, and Rummel Wilson 25, sailors.
The Fiona ‘R’ was also transporting silica sand but this time to St Vincent in September 2002 when it disappeared with another Rambarran sibling on board, R Ramcharitar who captained the vessel. In addition to there was the ship‘s mate, Deodat; an engineer; and sailors Lindon London and Danston George.
The disappearance of the Gran Rio’ R’ left many baffled since the vessel was said to have been equipped with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to trigger an alarm should the vessel sink, as well as radios capable of making long-distance contact within a 75 to 100-mile radius.
The vessel set sail from Port Georgetown on April 9, 2000 for the week long trip. The authorities in Trinidad had launched a search for the vessel since the marine department had received a weak signal from it some time earlier but did not act upon it immediately.
The fate of the Fiona ‘R’ also remains unclear since there was not any contact or communication with it as it travelled through Caribbean waters.
Closer to home, in January 2008, the fishing boat the Palpos 111 churned its way towards the open seas with three men on board for an expected three-week fishing trip but the vessel was never seen again.
On board that boat were Mahadeo Ramdeo, 24; the captain, Ramnarine Jagmohan, 46; and Jason Marshall, 24. The vessel was owned and operated by Pritipaul Singh Investments (PSI) seafood company of EBD.
There has been no sign of the boat, no washed up debris and no bodies, and the families of the men have followed every possible lead to try and find them but to no avail.
Three months after the disappearance of the vessel, PSI offered a $1 million reward for information that would lead to the recovery of the vessel and the three men. The police had been following the matter while then Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud had expressed disappointment with PSI for not reporting the vessel missing immediately.
Then in August last year, five Berbice fishermen were reported missing and subsequent searches continued daily for months but without any clues emerging as to their whereabouts or what may have happened to them.
Those missing are brothers Khemraj and Narine Dhanpat, known as ‘Rajan’ and ‘Shrimp,’ both of Number 64 Village, Corentyne; Ramnarine Oditnarine, called ‘Rodney,’ of Number 64 Village; Clifford Singh, called ‘Eggan’ of Number 62 Village; and Sumesh Martin, called ‘Canje,’ of Number 64 Village. Foul play was suspected after the boat was discovered empty in Suriname 17 days after the quintet set sail.
Then there had been the disappearance in August 2010, of three ECD fishermen and their vessel the Captain Sunil but the men were found alive and well in the North West District. The Coast Guard had launched a search for brothers Jairam Surujpaul and Jirgodhan Surujpaul, both of Bladen Hall, East Coast Demerara and their cousin, Lochan Teserdeen, of Madewini, East Bank Demerara and the men were subsequently discovered floating in their vessel in the Moruca Sub-Region several days later.
The authorities have made moves to encourage technological advances in the fishing and marine industry and had implored the owners of vessels to provide them with adequate communication equipment.
