Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 05, 2012 News
Tug mishap…
– 17-yr-old survives four days in ocean
After spending in excess of 80 hours in saltwater, drifting on a life ring, 17-year-old Deochand Massidas swam ashore at Kamwatta Beach, Region One yesterday morning, hours before being rescued at 10:00 am.
He was rescued by a search team that comprised the dredge owner, for whom the tug was transporting the excavator before the tragedy took place.
Minutes after his discovery, the GDF coast guard which was also part of the search team arrived at the location.
Provided with a meal and fresh water by his rescuers, the teenager was subsequently taken to the Charity Hospital and later united with his family.
Massidas was a crewmember of the ill-fated tug, Chrisann V, which sank Wednesday last, in the Atlantic Coast near the mouth of the Moruca River.
Though, missing for five days and feared dead, if Massidas was not rescued yesterday, his family had planned to start their own search and rescue mission. But little did they know the teenager was determined to find land and had made every opportunity of the sunlight and favourable waves.
Surrounded by family members, relatives, neighbours and friends at his Zeelugt, West Coast Demerara residence, Massidas recounted his near death experience and his fearlessness and determination to reunite with his relatives.
Massidas said that with the amount of water that had accumulated in the boat the wreck was inevitable.
“The boat was taking in plenty water while I was in the Engineer room helping to fix the engine. I left and go to my bunk and when I pressed my hand on the mattress, the force of the water spring it up and squeeze my hand. I pull out my hand and rush up to where the Captain (Vansluytman) was and pulling him to jump off the boat. He didn’t move and I take a life ring and jump off the boat,” the teenager said.
In the water, the young man swam towards the barge but could not grip the rope. That did not discourage Massidas, who was only wearing a pair of trousers and was equipped with only the life ring and a torchlight.
The brave teenager had already made up his mind to swim ashore when he heard someone shouting for help. Massidas responded to the calls of Elliot Jack (who was rescued on Saturday by a crew aboard a speedboat). He tied the two life rings together and the pair drifted for three days.
Massidas related that owing to the pitch black surroundings, it was difficult to locate the other two men, Captain John Vansluytman and Julian Garraway, who did not make it aboard the barge.
Braving high waves, scorching sun and periodic rains, Massidas clung to the life-ring next to Jack. The pair was just contemplating all the time how they will reach land.
Though, hungry and dehydrated, the teenager did not drink the saltwater but kept being determined to reach land.
Massidas recalled that in the wee hours of Saturday, he saw land and awoke Jack and they plotted how to swim in.
But his partner was too tired and decided to continue sleeping, leaving Massidas to paddle both of them to shore.
However, in the midst of being heroic, the teenager too fell asleep. He awoke closer to land and realized that Jack was no longer with him.
According to the 17-year old, at one point Jack had given up but he persuaded him to stay focused.
Overjoyed that he had found land at Kamwatta Beach, the teenager went in search for residents but stayed near the river edge to flag down any passing vessels.
“I didn’t give up! I know if you stay out there you are dead but if you swim you either gah fuh reach land or dead on the way, but I wasn’t going to stay out there. I wanted to reach home,” Massidas said smiling.
According to his mother, Seeranie Singh, the message of Jack being rescued renewed her faith.
“When I heard Elliot described his encounter, and the young boy who was with him, I knew it was my son. We were going to organize a search for him on Saturday but we decided to give them one more day to search and tomorrow (Monday) we would have searched for him,” an emotional Singh recounted.
Fighting back tears and smiling broadly, the elated mother said that everyone prayed for Massidas’ safe return home. Singh added that for the past four nights, she hardly slept and ate since she was worried about Massidas, who is the eldest of her four children.
The woman was relieved yesterday when her son called her. She immediately traveled to Supenaam to collect him.
Singh noted that her family would continue to pray for the other two men, Captain John Vansluytman and Julian Garraway who are still missing.
Meanwhile, Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, is unable to determine for how long the search would continue but noted that the rescue of Massidas has given reasons to continue.
He said that Coast Guard units from Morawhanna and Charity would be continuing their operations tomorrow. In addition, fishermen and other boat operators in the area are alerted to look out for the men.
Benn stated, “Our understanding is that when they (tug and barge) departed Buck Hall, they were already having problems and on Wednesday when they left Parika, the pumps on the tug were giving difficulty.”
“One of the Engineers mentioned talks about turning back but they continued and in the evening about 21:00 hrs the tug was taking in a lot of water and they tried unsuccessfully to patch the holes. They came up alongside the barge (with the excavator on it) to borrow a pump that was on the barge but the vessels clashed and came into hard contact. This resulted in more holes on the tug which then began to sink. Five of the men jumped over board and held onto a rope, which came from the barge,” he noted.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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