Relatives call off search for missing fishermen

Jun 06, 2009 News

After combing the length of the Essequibo Coast, the relatives of the fishermen who disappeared at sea are returning to their Unity, Mahaica home, in despair at not being able to recover the two remaining bodies.
On Thursday, relatives combed the Suddie beach but came up empty-handed in their search for the Sir Kegan’s captain Michael Ramlochan, and 14-year-old Peter Torres, who are both feared dead.
The bodies of two other fishermen Basdeo and Ramlall Ramphal, were recovered on Tuesday, while two life jackets believed to be worn by the still missing crew members, were found on Wednesday.
“I feel empty,” said Nalinie Singh, wife of the missing captain. Tired and worn out after four days of searching, Singh said that she will never accept that her husband is dead if his body is not found.
“There is hope, but hope can be very painful. I’m tired. I Don’t even know what is sleep,” she said.

She said that returning home will be hard, since she is not sure how to break the news of not finding Ramlochan’s body to her four children.
Singh stated that she has desperately been avoiding speaking to the children every time she contacted her home by telephone from the Essequibo Coast.
She expressed thanks to the many relatives and friends who assisted in the search, since without them she would not have been able to make it through the past few days.
She singled out the G Division Police Commander and his Deputy; the Minister of Agriculture, the Regional Fisheries Officer and the Administration of the Region Two Democratic Council, who she said were very helpful.

“I also want to thank Nalini and her family of Better Success. They were strangers and yet they took us into their house and gave us accommodation, food and clothes,” Nalinie Singh said.
Meanwhile, fishermen on East Coast Demerara have been expressing their sorrow at the tragedy that met the crew of the Sir Kegan.
Noting that fishing is hard work, one fisherman said that it is heart rending for simple fishermen to have to endure such risks just to make a meager living.
“Some of these fishermen can’t even eat dem own food after they finish pulling up they seine, how dem hand does hurt,” one fisherman told this newspaper. The fishermen say they would not rule out that the crew of the Sir Kegan were victims of piracy.
“I feel it for these men. It could be piracy or it could be malice, because a lot of fishermen envy one another. People get story pon land and dem settle it pon sea where dem ain’t gat no police,” Narine, a fisherman from the East Coast of Demerara said.

They were all certain that the pirates who attack Guyanese fishermen are their countrymen.
They told this newspaper that piracy is a highly organized operation which has links to the Corentyne.
They added that several fishing boat operators were able to recover their stolen engines at a Corentyne location for a fee, sometimes for as much as $200,000.
“These pirates could leave dem house in de afternoon, go out and rob you and reach home before morning like if nothing nah happen,” Narine said. And even though the search for the remaining crew members of the Sir Kegan has been officially called off by their relatives, the fishermen have vowed to keep an eye out for any sign that could tell what might have happened to them whenever they are out at sea.