An 11-year-old boy drowned on Friday afternoon while swimming in a canal near his West Coast Demerara home.
Dead is Akon Richards, a student, of Lot 45 De Kendren, WCD. The incident occurred sometime around 15:45h at the De Kendren Canal.
According to police reports, Richards resides with his grandmother and on the day in question, he was with his two younger female cousins, ages 9 and 5, playing in the rain when he went into the canal to swim.
He was initially cheered on by his cousins who were on the dam but subsequently encountered difficulties and was seen struggling to remain above the water. He was unsuccessful and eventually went down without resurfacing.
The cousins, having made the observation, went and notified their mother of what transpired but were initially ignored.
They, however, insisted that Akon went into the water but did not come out which caused their mother to commence calling out for the boy and after no response, she alerted the grandmother. Together, they continued calling for the boy but were unsuccessful.
A team of family members and neighbours subsequently got together and carried out a search in the said canal. However, Akon’s body was not found until 22:00h. By that time, the police was already on the scene assisting with the search.
Nevertheless, the motionless body of the deceased was fished out of the canal by family members and then escorted to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where doctors pronounced the 11-year-old dead.
The body was then examined by the Police for marks of violence but none was seen and is presently at the Ezekiel Funeral Parlor awaiting Post Mortem Examination.
The police said further inquiries are in progress.
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