Skeldon factory worker drowns on the job

A Skeldon sugar factory worker on Friday last drowned in a canal in the Skeldon back lands whilst he was on duty.

An autopsy performed on Gopaul Jagdeo, 55  ,of Lot 71 #59 village showed that the man died of asphyxia due to drowning. The post-mortem examination was done by Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan at the Skeldon Hospital yesterday.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Stabroek News yesterday, Rosita Gopaul 32, daughter of the deceased, related what happened on Good Friday.

The daughter said that her father left home for work as normal. She lamented, that when they investigated her father’s death they learnt that, he was found in a ca

nal trapped in the bell loader.  She recalled that, a fellow worker who passed by her father’s work station  saw a wheel of the bell loader in a canal.  She added that when the estate workers pulled the machine from the canal her father was found trapped inside. The mourning daughter said that, the deceased’s seat belt was still intact and the door on the machine was locked.

It was also noted that, Gopaul was the only person on the field when the incident occurred.

He is survived by his wife, two daughters, son, sister and his grandchildren along with other relatives and friends.

Gopaul dedicated the last sixteen years of his life as a bell loader operator at the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s Skeldon Factory.
He is expected to be laid to rest soon.