Post mortem adds to mystery of tug captain’s death

Mar 21, 2014 News

A post mortem on the remains of elderly tug Captain George Clarke has left his relatives with even more questions as to how his body ended up in the Mazaruni River at Iteballi, Cuyuni/Mazaruni last month.
The 74-year-old Toolsie Persaud Limited employee disappeared on February 21, while working on a tug, the Arawai, which was moored near the Iteballi shore. His body was recovered near the vessel on February 23.

Mr. Clarke and his wife

When the corpse was found, the victim’s trousers were unzipped and his genitals were exposed, leading to suggestions that he fell overboard while urinating.
But relatives and a Toolsie Persaud limited official have stated that a post mortem indicated that there was no evidence of water in the victim’s lungs. The cause of death was undetermined.
“Based on what I gathered, the post mortem stated that the cause of death was unknown and there was no water in his lungs,” the official told Kaieteur News yesterday. The official conceded that the post mortem “leaves a big puzzle,” but stressed that it “points no fingers” at anyone.
Kaieteur News understands that the decomposing state of the corpse may have made it difficult for the pathologist to make a definitive ruling on how Mr. Clarke met his death.
One of the sons who witnessed the post mortem showed Kaieteur News a photograph of his father’s body. He pointed out that the man’s tongue was protruding, which sometimes occurs in cases of strangulation.
“They had said that the man drowned, but the post mortem say ‘undetermined’. If a man didn’t drown…how he end up overboard?”
From the outset, some of Mr. Clarke’s children had suggested that he was the victim of foul play. They pointed out several things that have aroused their suspicions.
According to reports, only one other crew member was on board the vessel on the day that Clarke vanished. The crewman had told Kaieteur News that he last saw Mr. Clarke at around 11.00 hrs on Thursday, February 20. However, a daughter of the missing man insisted that she spoke to her father at around 19:00 hrs that same day.
The crewman told Kaieteur News that they were moored near the Mazaruni River shore at Iteballi, while other TPL workers were loading logs onto a pontoon that is attached to the tug. 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 Mr. Clarke was above operating the pump.
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. According to the man, he then questioned the rest on shore and they also said that they had not seen ‘Clarkie.’
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. Two of Mr. Clarke’s sons say that he knew to swim and would have been able to reach the nearby shore had he fallen overboard.
One of the sons said that he had visited Iteballi after his father’s remains were recovered. According to the son, the crewman who was on the tug gave him his father’s watch, rings and a cell phone, which were reportedly found in the tug’s cabin after he disappeared.
The son queried why his father would have taken off these items prior to his ending up in the river. Both sons said that their father ‘went everywhere’ with his cell phone.
According to the son, the crewman also showed him an area on the tug where he claimed Mr. Clarke was in the habit of urinating. However, the son said that he observed that there was a toilet nearby, and suggested that his father would have used the toilet instead.
“I need justice. The police should question the man who was on the tug.”