Sixty-year-old Bertram Willie, a dredge owner of Wisrock New Housing Scheme, Linden, met his demise on Wednesday while working at his mining operation at Cowing Backdam, Upper Mazaruni River in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
Based on reports received, Trevor Benn, another miner, related that on the day in question, at about 12:45h, the now-dead man was submerged while extracting gravel in the Mazaruni River.
As he looked closer, he observed that a piece of land had caved into the river – the area where Willie was operating.
However, Benn explained that he called out to Willie but did not get any response. As such, he immediately raised an alarm, and with the assistance of other miners, they found the body of the elderly man pinned underwater by a tree stump.
Willie was subsequently pulled from the water and taken to the surface. He was taken to the Imbaimadai Health Post, where he was pronounced dead. A post-mortem is expected to be conducted soon.
