Dental Assistant drowns during beach outing

Mar 14, 2017 News

A day out at the beach ended tragically after a young Dental Assistant lost his life while out with friends at the Alness Beach, Corentyne Berbice, on Sunday.

Gopal ‘Raj’ Govindan

The dead man has been identified as Gopal Govindan, aka “Raj”, 19, of 112 Alness Village. Reports are that the young man left his home with four other friends on a trip to the Alness Beach.
At the home, family members of the deceased teen were seen erecting a black flag and tents for a wake. Arjune Govindan, 46, father of the teen said that his son left home at approximately 14:00 hrs on Sunday on the beach outing with his friends.
“He normally goes out with friends on the weekends but yesterday he told his mom that he going down to the beach with some friends. His mom asked him if every weekend he going beach and he tell she that he coming back by 4:30.” He stated that some time around 16:00 hrs someone called at their gate and upon checking to see who it was he noticed one of his son’s friends.
“He come and he tell me that Gopal gone down under the water and didn’t come up back.” At that point the devastated man said that he took his wife and drove to the location where his son was hanging out with his friends.
“When we drove out, there was a lot of people and the water was high. There was nothing we could do. It was so deep, we just had to stop and wait,” the father said, barely holding back his tears.
Determined to find his son with some hope that he might still be alive, Govindan decided to walk along the shore of the beach leading to the next village, Manchester, when his worst fears were confirmed; there was his son lying face down along the Manchester shore about half a mile from where they were. It was at that moment that the reality of his son’s demise sunk in.
In the presence of his three other children, the senior Govindan broke down in tears as he spoke of his son, whom he described as “very loving and such a joyful person”. He was reportedly not a good swimmer as well.
Residents of the area were also praised for their support in locating young Govindan’s body. There were no marks of violence on his body.
He leaves to mourn his three siblings, parents other relatives and friends.