Canje fisherman missing, feared dead

A fisherman from East Canje has been missing since Friday and relatives suspect that he may be dead since someone from the boat which he was working on informed them that he had fallen overboard.

Dinesh Bhagwandin
Dinesh Bhagwandin

Dinesh Bhagwandin, also known as ‘Jadoo’, 18, of Lot 92 Second Street, Number Two Village left home on Thursday to go to Number 43 Village, Corentyne to solicit a fishing job as he would normally do.

His sister Sukmattie Rampersaud, 27, told Stabroek News that he phoned her later in the day and told her that he found a job on a boat and he was heading out to sea. She said, “I tell him okay that be careful we gone talk back.” The sister, in tears, said she received a phone call the following day from an unknown person. “Somebody call and say, ‘you is who for Jadoo’ and I said I is he sister then the person say ‘he fall overboard in the water’ and [the phone] cut off,” she said.

Relatives launched a search party on the Corentyne to find her brother but they have since come up empty handed. “We search the sea shores from 43 Village come down thinking that maybe he body or something would float up. Plus me husband made a report and searching in Suriname,” she said.

The woman vented her frustration at local lawmen who have not yet paid any sort of attention to the matter or assisted her in anyway. “I went Central then them tell me go 51 station. Them police na help us with nothing,” she said.

Bhagwandin’s mother is hoping that her son was rescued by a boat and is praying for his safe return. She is calling for assistance from the relevant authorities in finding her youngest child. Anyone with information surrounding Bhagwandin’s disappearance can contact his relatives on 322-0683 or the nearest police station.