Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
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Fishermen donate cash to legless colleague
Russell Cornelius and his infant son
Fishermen from Pritipaul Singh Investments have come to the aid of disabled seaman Russell Cornelius, even as his employers remain mum on his fate.
The crewmen from 15 vessels attached to Pritipaul Singh Investments pooled together $133,000, which they handed over to Cornelius at his Grove, East Bank Demerara home yesterday.
“We read of his plight and came up with the money,” one of the boat captains told Kaieteur News, while adding that it was a “hurtful” experience to actually see Cornelius’s injuries.
Officials from another company are also attempting to procure a wheelchair for the injured seaman.
“I feel happy that another company has helped me, even though the company I worked for has not,” Cornelius said shortly after receiving the donation.
The seaman’s relatives alleged on Thursday that officials from Noble House Seafoods Limited had indicated that the company will not compensate Cornelius for his injuries.
They claimed the officials said that the company has contacted its lawyers, and that the family should contact theirs.
Noble House Personnel Officer Piercy Corlette has repeatedly declined to comment on the issue or the circumstances that led to Cornelius being injured.
Cornelius, 43, of Grove, East Bank Demerara, had his legs severed on January 18 last when his limbs got entangled in a winch on the World Friend 307, a trawler that is operated by Noble House Seafoods.
At the time, the vessel was some nine miles out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Trawler captain Roy Soknanan and four of his crewmen have all submitted statements about the mishap.
Two of the crewmen recounted hearing Cornelius crying out and then seeing his severed legs on the trawler deck.
The crewmen said they tied Cornelius’s mangled limbs to staunch the bleeding, and placed him on a mattress in the cabin.
A Coast Guard vessel then arrived and took him to shore, where a waiting ambulance took him to hospital.
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