Corentyne River nightmare! Fishermen attacked, beaten, thrown overboard

Feb 17, 2013 News

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By Leon Suseran

Six fishermen told of a nightmare along the Corentyne River last Tuesday.  Three armed, masked men tied, beat and robbed them then threw them overboard and left them for dead. At the end of the nearly two-hour ordeal, the fishermen were left on their own in the dark, cold Suriname waters.
They endured one of the longest, torturous nights of their lives; trekked through bush; swam frantically for the nearest shore; and finally arrived in Nickerie, Suriname, exhausted, injured and very traumatized. And the pirates carted off $1.5M in items, including their boat.
Orvin ‘Bird’ Harripersaud, 32, of Lot 20 Grant 1801 Crabwood Creek, said that he and five other men,  Dhaneshwar Balgobin, Kubeerdhall Samlall, Dhaneshwar Sookdeo, Neelnarine Balgobin, and Ramesh Chandra Seenarine, all left their homes as usual, around 17:30 hrs, on Tuesday for a routine fishing trip along the Corentyne River on the Raghine II.
Harripersaud said that he and the group anchored their boat just in front of Snake Island (along the river) around 20:00 hrs and tried to get some sleep. “We go inside the cabin and lie down and sleep”, he stated.
Then it all began. Three men were seen on an approaching boat, “one standing with a gun and the others with cutlasses”. The pirates quickly hooked up to the Raghine II and slipped across, before ordering the men to lie face down on the icebox.
“One of them started to broadside me on my chest…and they started to beat all them workmen, asking for our cell phones,
“I told them only one cell phone I got but they stated that we got three cell phones and they started to beat us for the phones”. The phones were handed over. “Then they told me to go and pick up the anchor and strip the engine.”
Harripersaud stated that he told them that he needed a tool bag to strip the engine, but his remarks were met with more lashes with the cutlasses.
He was then ordered to start the engine. “One of the men ordered me to drive and he was ‘clapping’ me with the cutlass and then he took over the engine.” The pirates were now in control of the boat.
The pirates escorted the two boats, along with the fishermen, about 24 rods from the point of first attack. The group of fishermen could have overheard the pirates speaking to each other.
“One was telling the other, ‘let we blow off their [expletive] heads! Another was telling the other to let them [the fishermen] jump”.  Harripersaud was also ordered to untie his colleagues and the boats as well.
The pirates then ordered the men to jump overboard before speeding off into the dark, and vanished. They carted off cell phones, the seine, and boat with engine. Harripersaud and his team were left stranded. They were in Suriname waters.
Their best shot, he thought, was to get as close as possible back to the point where they were attacked and swim to the Suriname Ferry Crossing at South Drain, Nickerie. Their estimates were wrong as they swam for about 15 minutes only to reach one of the many islands along the river.
They jumped on the island, but noticed the tide was slowly coming in. They saw a light approaching but were afraid to shout since they were fearful it could have been the pirates. They stayed quiet. “I asked my men not to say a word!”
An hour later, they saw another light, decided to try calling for help but their cries were drowned out by the boat engine in operation. “We holler and holler and holler…” he stated.  During this time, it was raining heavily.
Mosquitos and sandflies made their night more difficult. “We cut branches and brushed our skin because we cannot bear with the mosquitoes and sandflies”. They spent the entire night on trees, since the water was flooding the island.
Early Wednesday he told his colleagues, “We swim across a fine river until we can’t swim no more…and we took the bush after that. We bore from the track and go all through the bush and we found like we were going the wrong way”.
He went on to say that they walked a good distance “and took a next track and saw an old vehicle, and took another track”, he related.
Totally exhausted from all the swimming and walking, they were contemplating whether to continue swimming for the closest shore, or the Guyana- Suriname Ferry at South Drain.
Relief but ordeal not over
After crossing three creeks, the men finally spotted the Ferry Crossing at South Drain. “We finally reached [MV] Canawaima [ferry] shortly after 14:00 hrs Wednesday.  A Surinamese Immigration Officer was the first human being they saw.
Harripersaud immediately telephoned a close friend in Nickerie who rushed to the stelling with water and bread for the men. The officer then informed the police in Nickerie who arrived within minutes and took the men down to the station.
But Harripersaud stated that as soon as they thought that their ordeal was over, it seemed to have just begun. The Suriname Police, he claimed, did not give them access to medical treatment, even though the fishermen were in intense pain, shock and had multiple cuts, and injuries about their bodies.
Harripersaud said that he was giving statements to the police from 15:00 hrs – 21:00 hrs that day.  “Them get we—that was like more worst—in pains and like from 3-9pm was with me alone, giving statements. Me had to talk about one hundred times and he [the interpreter] was typing”.
“We had to beg them for a phone call.  They had an interpreter which slowed the process further. They get us in different rooms like is a big crimes we committed. We showed them all our wounds, and they didn’t even see it fit to carry us to the doctor”, Harripersaud lamented.
After 03:00 hrs, the police then gave them the option to visit the doctor. However, Harripersaud was more anxious to get home back to Corentyne and told the police that his relatives were bringing medications for them.
Afterwards, the other fishermen gave statements. They finished after 02:00 hrs that morning. During this time, Harripersaud informed his relatives in Guyana about the situation and made arrangements to be picked up on the Corentyne side. However, Harripersaud and another colleague decided to stay in Suriname to take the police to the attack scene, while the other fishermen left for Guyana.
The Raghine II was discovered by the police along a section of the Corentyne River on Thursday along with

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