Elderly men on fishing trip rescued after boat sinks

Mar 23, 2022 News

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – Six elderly men, who were on Thursday last enjoying the sport of fishing, some three miles off the coast of Georgetown in the vicinity of Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, were rescued after their boat reportedly sank.

The boat that sank.

One of them, Hafeez Ali, told Kaieteur News that they had been swimming and drifting with life jackets and buoys for some five hours before they were eventually rescued by the crew of a dredging ship and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coastguard ranks. He recalled that they were all cold and his legs had started to cramp as the drifting went on for hours.
According to Ali, he is a fisherman but had retired some 30 years ago and migrated. On Thursday, he and some friends – all elderly men – decided to go on a fishing trip to have some fun exhibiting their fishing skills.
They reportedly departed from the beach behind the Marriott Hotel around 07:00hrs that day. After arriving some three miles off the coast, they decided to cast their seine.

The six men who were rescued after drifting for some five hours.

Around 11:00hrs, they felt their seine “tingle”. Ali said that they soon realised that it had gotten tangled with something below the water and in a bid to free it, they started to pull it.
Unfortunately, a huge wave struck their boat and they realised that if another hit, it could be disastrous.
Ali revealed that they decided to cut the seine and let it go. But they were not quick enough; another wave struck them. This time, their boat became submerged and sank, so they grabbed the life buoys from the boat and attempted to swim but when they became weary they drifted.
As the hours went by, one of them decided to leave the security of the buoy and swam to a dredging ship close by.
He successfully made it to the ship and the crew onboard rescued him. He told them about his drifting colleagues and the ship located two of the men and rescued them too. The GDF Coastguard was alerted and a boat was dispatched to rescue the remaining three.
The men said that they are grateful for their lives and are now offering a $1M reward to anyone who can find their sunken boat. Contact can be made via telephone numbers: 653 3800, +1 917 434 7466 or +1 718 659 8844.