The body of a Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri worker was yesterday found in the airport’s water reservoir and as police investigate, relatives believe that foul play was involved.
Dead is 26-year-old Chris Andrew Jacobs, a maintenance engineer of the airport and who lived in the nearby village of Hauraruni Village, Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
The CJIA last evening, in a press release, said that it was investigating Jacobs’ death. According to the release, Jacobs was yesterday discovered, apparently drowned, in a water reservoir at the Airport, after being involved in a reported assault and a resulting altercation sometime after 11pm on Saturday.
The man’s employer said that the body was discovered at around 1:30pm yesterday after repeated efforts in trying to locate him.
A close relative of Jacobs told Stabroek News that Jacobs was last seen on Saturday evening when he left for a staff social at his place of employ. The relative said that he was picked up by friends and while persons saw him at the event his whereabouts after midnight are unclear.
While the relative did not go into detail she said that the family believes that foul play was the cause of the man’s death.
The man’s father Jagat Jacobs said that he awoke during the wee hours of Sunday morning and realized his son had not returned from work. He was further disturbed by a phone call he received from a supervisor of the airport, around 5:30am, inquiring of his son and informing him that he was “involved in some issue” at the airport and was needed.
The man said that he did not probe what the issue at the airport was as he was more concerned with finding his son as him being away for prolonged periods was out of character.
He said that throughout the day, calls were made to his son’s mobile phone and to friends and coworkers while other relatives launched a search.
At around 1:45 pm the family received a phone call from a co-worker at CJIA that Jacobs’ body was in the water reservoir. His family rushed to the scene and positively identified him before he was taken to the Lykens Funeral Home.
This newspaper understands that the “issue” Jacobs’ superiors wanted him for questioning involved him exhibiting unprofessional behaviour during the social at his workplace.
An employee at CJIA said that Jacobs had been imbibing all night and got “rowdy and started getting on bad”.
This caused persons to call for the airport’s internal security and subsequently police from the nearby outpost. However, Jacobs stated that he knew his way out and left. That was the last time he was seen alive.
It is unclear what the distance of the water reservoir is from where the staff social was being held and why Jacobs would go visiting that area as his job was in no way connected to the water system.
Jacobs was the second of three children and was not married.
Commander of Police A Division Clifton Hicken confirmed that preliminary investigations stated that the body was found in a reservoir and told Stabroek News that the police’s probe continues.
An autopsy is scheduled to be performed today on Jacobs.
