(Trinidad Express) The search continued on Monday for teenager Renisha Basdeo and her 50-year-old step father, Deoraj Harridass, who disappeared in the waters near the Mitan River Mouth, Manzanilla, on Sunday.
They were among four people who drowned in beaches along the East Coast on Sunday. Pensioner Morris Sammy and his nine-year-old granddaughter, Anastazia Ali, drowned at a beach in Mayaro.
The bodies washed ashore minutes later, but attempts to resuscitate Sammy and his granddaughter were unsuccessful. Coast Guard and Air Guard officers returned to the scene at daybreak to resume the search for Harridass and his stepdaughter.
The family stood vigil on the coastline, praying for the bodies to be recovered. Basdeo was a pupil of the Tableland Secondary School and Harridass was employed as a security officer. Police said the family of Robert Village, Tableland, was spending the weekend at a camp site near the beach.
A police report stated that Basdeo went to wash her hands in the water when she stumbled and fell into the rough waters. Her stepfather went in to assist and was pulled in by the undercurrent. Mayaro police are continuing investigations.
