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Search for missing fishermen continues
– As govt. appoints independent board to investigate mishap
Kaieteur News – As the search continues for three men who went missing after a fishing trawler sank on Saturday, the government on Monday appointed an independent board of inquiry to conduct a “thorough investigation” into the circumstances surrounding the mishap.
Missing Harold Anthony Damon (left), Winston Sam (centre) and Ronald Burton
Still missing are Harold Anthony Damon, 45, Winston Sam, 46, and Ronald Burton, 78. All three men are from Agricola located on the East bank of Demerara (EBD) and had disappeared after a fishing trawler that belongs to Noble House Seafood Limited, sank sometime after 07:00hrs on Saturday with them onboard. According to reports there was a lone survivor, Winston Dazzle, who was lucky enough to be rescued.
The inquiry board tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the mishap was appointed in the presence of the media at the Ministry of Public Works’ boardroom located at Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown. It consists of seven officials who were given 14 days to write a full report documenting every bit of information starting from the moment the vessel departed Georgetown to the moment a distress call was made by its crew before it sank.
Those individuals were identified as Yolanda Hughes of Transport and Harbours Department (TH&D), Captain John Flores of the Martime Administration Department (MARAD), who is tasked with chairing the board, former Head of TH&D, Ronald Charles; Guyana Defence Force’s Coast Guard Lieutenant Rawle Williams, Senior Superintendent of Police, Ewart Wray, Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Dwayne Vyphuis and Chief Fisheries Officer, Denzil Roberts.
According to the Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, the board will be investigating some key aspects which includes the competency of the captain and his crew and to find out the reason why the company, Nobel House, did not alert the relevant government authorities of the incident in a timely manner despite receiving a distress call from its crew before the vessel sank.
The lone survivor, Dazzle, had recalled his captain, Harold Anthony Damon – one of the missing crew members – summoning him around 06:00hrs that Saturday morning to check the back of the trawler. Dazzle remembered reporting to his captain that the boat was taking in water. He had also said that his captain made contact via radio to Noble House informing them of their situation but while doing so they lost connection and the boat started to sink.
Minister Indar said on Monday that authorities learnt that the distress call to Nobel House was made around 05:30hrs, however, there are no records suggesting that the company had contacted MARAD or the Coast Guard to inform them of the mishap.
Indar, along with the Minister Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, and other officials present at the media brief related that authorities learnt of the mishap around 19:00hrs on Saturday.
Meanwhile as it relates to the ongoing search, Benn told the media that upon learning of the incident coast guards were dispatched and a search was launched. Efforts were also made to conduct an aerial search on Sunday but it had to be called off because of bad weather.
Nevertheless, divers were sent out yesterday along with coast guards to see if they could have located the wreck.
Benn said that the trawler sank some 26 nautical miles off shore Mahaica and search for the wreck and the missing men are being conducted to and from that area.
As the search continues, relatives of the missing men are clinging to a glimmer of hope that they might still be alive. The men had left home last Sunday and were scheduled to return on Sunday but they did not make it home except for one.
The survivor told investigators that he remembers clinging to a bouy and being rescued hours later by a small fishing boat.
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