Pirates shoot two, abduct two, in C/tyne River

Oct 30, 2009 News

By Brushell Blackman
Pirates have yet again attacked fishermen plying their trade on the waters between Guyana and Suriname. On Wednesday evening, five crew members on a vessel ‘Prince Omar’ were attacked in Coroni, an area close to Surimane. During the ordeal two of the fishermen, Venkataraguvan Raghnauth, 29, of 61 Doctor Miller Street, Triumph, East Coast Demerara, and Shaheed Ahamed, 39, of Vigilance, East Coast Demerara, were shot. The latter had six pellets removed from his body and was discharged, while Raghnauth who was hit by twenty pellets, was kept for observation
Two crew members were abducted along with the boat. The two that are missing were only identified as ‘Brown’ of Bareroot and ‘Mickey’ of Good Hope, both are villages on the East Coast of Demerara.
According to Shaheed Ahamad, one of the fishermen that was shot, it was sometime around 19:00 hours last Wednesday, that he and Raghnauth were at the front of the boat degutting their catch when they noticed a boat approaching, minus its lights. The man said they did not make much of it since they thought it was other fishermen.
According to Ahamad, shortly after, Raghnauth called out to whoever was piloting the approaching vessel to turn on its lights since the boat was getting too close. “As soon as ‘Chinee’ (Raghnauth) say that, is so shots start firing.”
The man said Raghnauth was at the front of the boat and he suffered from the brunt of the spraying pellets. By this time, five masked pirates disembarked their smaller vessel and came onboard theirs. Ahamad said that they were ordered to lie face down, and were threatened that should they look at the pirates’ faces they would have been killed.
By this time the men had already accosted the remaining crew members, the Captain, Suresh, ‘Brown’ and ‘Mickey’.
The pirates had already attacked another boat damaging its engine and dumping, Ahamad, Raghnauth and the captain Suresh along with five other fishermen who they had earlier robbed, on that vessel. The man said they watched helplessly as the pirates disappeared into the dark with their boat and the two crew members.
Ahamad said that they drifted for hours on the boat which they were thrown since the engine was damaged. He said it was sometime after, that a smaller fishing boat rescued them close to Nickerie after which they were taken to a medical facility over in Suriname and subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Hospital.
The boat which has been on sea for the past seven days, was heading towards Suriname after which it would have headed to the East Coast of Demerara as its final destination. According to Ms Omar, the wife of the boat owner, it was the third time that their vessel had been attacked by pirates. Omar said that her husband and the boat captain are now trying to track down the missing vessel and crew members. The concerned woman said that the boat and the items on board which range from seine, to engine, fuel, the catch and other items worth about $6M. She expressed disappointment with the efforts by the authorities and lamented the lack of security for fishermen. “These people have to do more, this is we life… they only talking but protection for fishermen, but where is it?”
Over the past year there have been a number of piracy incidents on the Corentyne River, resulting in the death of a number of fishermen. In one incident two suspected pirates and a police rank were killed in a shootout at the Cromarty foreshore.

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