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Body of missing tug captain found
It turned into a sad Mashramani Day for the family of Tug Captain George Clarke, when his body was fished out of the Mazaruni River at Iteballi, four days after he was reported missing.
His son, Oswin Clarke, said that he received the news of the discovery of his father’s body at around 7.15 hrs yesterday. He said that another brother, who saw the body, told him his father’s remains were found near the tug, which was moored on the Mazaruni River shore near Iteballi.
According to the son, the corpse was badly decomposed, and he expressed suspicion that his 74-year-old father may have died earlier than was reported.
According to Oswin Clarke, his father’s trouser zipper was down and his genitals were out. This, he said, seemed to indicate that his father might have been urinating when he ended up overboard. But he stated that his father knew to swim, and would have been able to reach the shore, which was a few feet away. He said that his father’s rings were missing, but his watch, and cell phone which were on the tug, were recovered.
Family members again urged that police question those who were around when the Tug Captain vanished.
George Clarke, of Lot 10 Nelson Street, Mocha, East Bank Demerara, is said to have vanished at around 11.00 hrs on Thursday, while working on the MV Arawai, which is owned by Toolsie Persaud Limited (TPL).
Clarke’s relatives and a crewman from the tug are at odds as to when he went missing.
The crew member, who was the only other person on board, told Kaieteur News that he last saw Mr. Clarke at around 11.00 hrs on Thursday. However, a daughter of the missing man insisted that she spoke to her father at around 19:00 hrs on Thursday.
The crewman told Kaieteur News that they were moored near the Mazaruni River shore at Iteballi, while other TPL workers were loading logs onto the pontoon. He said that in the meantime, he was assisting Clarke to pump water out of the tug. According to the crewman, he was below deck holding a hose while the Tug Captain was above operating the pump.
Mr. George Clarke and his wife
The crewman said that after about 30 minutes, he realised that the pump had ‘slowed down’ and he went on deck to check on Mr. Clarke, but did not see him.
The man said he then searched the entire tug, including the engine room and the toilets, but saw no sign of Clarke.
“Then I called the rest of the men on shore and they (also) say that they had not seen Clarkie,” the man said. Kaieteur News was told that the men then concluded that Mr. Clarke had fallen overboard. However, the crewman said that Clarke had never complained of feeling unwell or of having dizzy spells.
The victim’s eldest son said that Mr. Clarke was employed for about 10 years as a seaman with Toolsie Persaud Limited. He was the Captain as well as the Engineer on the tug.
He described his father as a dedicated worker and expressed the view that he was not adequately rewarded for his dedication. The company is said to have owed Mr. Clarke several months’ salary.
“At one time they called him out of his house at around one o’clock in the morning…another time we hid his shoes (so he couldn’t go) and he found a pair of slippers and went.”
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