The Venezuelan national, who died in a freak accident at the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore Base facility commonly known as the artificial island off the Demerara River on Saturday, has been identified.
According to the Police, 37-year-old Rusbel Jesus Rengar Azocar was a Health and Safety Officer. He died after falling into a hole at the facility where he was putting up safety warnings to caution others.
The Ministry of Labour has already launched an investigation into the incident.
See below for the full statement from the Guyana Police Force on the incident:
Police are investigating an alleged incident which resulted in the death of Rusbel Jesus Rengar Azocar, a 37-year-old Venezuelan national, which occurred at about 18:40 hrs on February 10th, 2024 at the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore Base, West Coast Demerara.
Enquiries disclosed that Azocar was employed at the Shore Base facility as a Health and Safety worker and on the date and time mentioned above, he was placing ‘cones and danger tape’ around a hole as a signal to warn others of the hazard but unfortunately he fell into the hole himself.
The hole had water several feet in depth. Azocar, who was found in the hole facing head down, presumably drowned. Some witnesses activated the emergency response immediately but unfortunately, Azocar could not be rescued in time by his emergency response colleagues.
The body was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival by a Doctor on duty. The body was then escorted to the Ezekiel Funeral Home, awaiting a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death.
