On search and rescue

Mar 03, 2012 Editorial

A vessel sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the Essequibo Coast on Wednesday. Five people have been rescued so far and another four are missing. Any disaster sends shockwaves across a country largely because human lives are involved. The victims are people with families; some have parents and all are people eking out a living because they simply cannot find any reasonable employment.
For years Guyana has been talking about developing a search and rescue capability. These plans surfaced after there were a series of plane crashes and other accidents in the hinterland. There was even talk of a search and rescue operation when a young woman disappeared at the top of Kaieteur Falls.
Given Guyana’s dense jungle, plane crashes mandated a proper search and rescue team. For example, when one aircraft crashed in the Upper Mazaruni, killing the pilot and the other passengers it was some time before a search and rescue team could be scrambled. Two people survived the crash, a mother and her son. Her baby daughter died.
There was no search and rescue mission. The woman managed to climb from the wrecked aircraft and with her son, climb down the mountain to her village. People who saw her rushed to her aid and ride her home.
We have had other plane crashes for which private aircraft owners mounted searches at their expense. In some cases they found survivors as was the case when the Skyvan crashed on a mountain. But in other cases they have either failed to locate the wreckage or when they did find it, had to seek the services of the army to rappel down to the scene.
The country simply does not have a ready unit that could be rushed into action when disaster strikes. Instead, the heads of the Civil Defence Commission had to seek help from private organizations which must be mobilized and then put into action. Whether this body has money to fund any emergency is not known. But it is clear that this body does not seek to mobilize for every disaster.
When the vessel sank off the Essequibo Coast there was no search and rescue effort until twenty-four hours had elapsed. There are various reports. One distressed relative talks about a report being made to the Parika Police Station of the vessel sinking and of people being reported missing. The man said that the police treated his queries as something funny.
What was not funny was the fact that the Harbour Master was unaware of the disaster nearly thirty-six hours after it had happened. This suggests that there is a lack of communication when it matters most. Forty-eight hours later the authorities began to mobilize a search and rescue operation.
Up to late yesterday none of the missing had been found. This is largely because there was no effort on the part of the authorities to rescue them. The present case tells of another situation that should not have been happening at this time in the life of mariners. It would seem that the vessel did not have adequate communication.
Surely, had there been adequate communication, the vessel could have sent out a distress signal. It is not clear whether this was the case. There is a report that fishermen in the area rescued the five and brought them to shore. This is how the tragedy broke and eventually reached the ears of the authorities.
Had there been an early report one would assume that aircraft would have been sent out. There were aircraft in the area yesterday and if there is no recovery then they would be back up today. River craft seem to be at a paucity. Neither the police nor the army seems to be capable of mounting a maritime team.
On Thursday, the police administration openly admitted that it is incapable of dealing with episodes in the rivers and on the open seas. At this time of our development we should have had a number of coastal vessels. We had them in the not too distant past but we allowed them to deteriorate. We have bought helicopters that seem to be nothing but white elephants.
And to think that we spent a lot of money on them and we were promised that they would have been integral to the crime fight. They were to have been fitted with searchlights that would have been a boon in the rescue mission.
So many things went wrong and will continue to go wrong.

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