Three Brazilians perish after ‘Draga’ sinks in Cuyuni

Jul 23, 2012 News

The bodies of three miners from a five-man Brazilian crew were recovered late yesterday afternoon after their river mining vessel, a Draga C11, owned by one of their countrymen called ‘Shagga’ capsized and sank near the Tiger Island point, lower Warudi area, in the Cuyuni River, on Saturday Night.
Reports indicate that the three persons, two male operators and the female cook, who are yet to be identified, were in separate rooms resting on the top deck of the” Draga” at the time of the incident.
It is not clear what caused the mishap but according to reports, it happened very quickly since the other two operators who were on the bottom deck did not have sufficient time to alert the others about what was happening.
They only had enough time to swim to the safety of land nearby.
They were forced to wait until around 7:30am yesterday before they were able to communicate with other Brazilians at Bartica about the tragedy.
The Bartica Police were then notified.
A team of Brazilians at Bartica then mobilized themselves and accompanied the police team to the area with a view of finding the missing miners before assessing the salvaging works of the machinery which sank in the river’s main channel.
The area where the incident occurred is about one hour from Bartica via boat. (Edward. A Persaud)