Seawall outing ends in tragedy… Man drowns in Atlantic, Coast Guard rescues girlfriend

Sep 13, 2008 News

By Michael Jordan

Dead: Royston Seecharran

A 23-year-old woman yesterday recounted how strong tides dragged her and a boyfriend out to sea, as they shouted in vain for a bystander to rescue them, during a swimming outing last Sunday that went tragically wrong.
Gloria Nedd, of Lot 217 Lamaha Street, was finally hauled to safety by Coast Guard ranks, after miraculously floating for about three hours in the treacherous Atlantic Ocean, in the vicinity of the Kingston seawall.
But her boyfriend, 22-year-old Royston Seecharran, of Rosignol, Berbice, drowned a short distance from the Kingston jetty just before the same Coast Guard crew could reach him.
Seecharran’s body eventually washed ashore on Wednesday at the Crane, West Coast Demerara foreshore. An autopsy on that day confirmed that he had died from drowning.
However, his remains were unidentified at the time, and police were forced to have the corpse buried because of its advanced state of decomposition.
Seecharran’s relatives, who had scoured the Kingston area for his body, said that they confirmed his identity yesterday, after police informed them that the corpse bore a tattoo similar to one that was imprinted on the missing man’s hand.
However, some of the relatives are upset because the police had failed to inform them when Seecharran’s body was discovered.
They are also upset by reports that the Coast Guard ranks who rescued Nedd had aborted their search for Seecharran because they claimed they were low on fuel.

CARRIED OUT TO SEA
Gloria Nedd recalled that she and Royston Seecharran were swimming in shallow water near the Kingston seawall, at around 14:30 hrs last Sunday, when they were unwittingly pulled into deeper water by the tide.
“We were swimming in shallow water near (Le Meridien) Pegasus, and then I suddenly start feeling light, but by then we did already reach the jetty,” she said.
“We try to swim back in, but the water keep drifting us back out. After we start drifting from the jetty, Royston start swimming and trying to pull me, but he couldn’t make it, so I loose he and start drifting out with the water.”
Being a poor swimmer, Nedd said, she decided to save her energy and float with the tide. She and Seecharran eventually drifted further apart.

Gloria Nedd

However, Seecharran fought against the tide, and relatives believe that he eventually became exhausted.
According to Nedd, a man was standing on the jetty, and they began to shout to him for help. The woman said that the man disappeared and she later learned that it was he who contacted the army’s Coast Guard ranks.
Meanwhile, Nedd said, the tide carried her more than 30 metres (100 feet) away from the jetty. She recalled swallowing salt water as she battled to stay alive.
She estimated that about four hours passed before the Coast Guard vessel located her and the crew hauled her on board. It was only when they began to question Nedd that she realised that Seecharran had not been rescued. “They ask who I was swimming with and I tell them that it is my boyfriend, and they say that he still in the water.”
According to her, the crew scoured the water, and one of them suddenly shouted that he had spotted Seecharran. However, before the crew could respond, Seecharran went under and did not come up again.
Royston Seecharran’s relatives say that his girlfriend informed them of the tragedy; and from Sunday to Thursday, they began searching for his body.
Some of the relatives say that they also sought assistance from the Coast Guard at Ruimveldt in locating Seecharran’s remains, but alleged that the ranks said that they were unable to help.
They also contacted the police, who assured them that an all-stations bulletin had been sent out about the mishap.
However, on Thursday, they were watching a television newscast when they learnt that the body of an unidentified man, with the words ‘Thug Life” tattooed on one of his hands, had washed up at the Crane foreshore.
They then went to the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station yesterday, only to learn that the corpse had already been buried.
However, they confirmed that the body was Seecharran’s after being given a description of the tattoo and the dead man’s swimming trunks.