Several passengers were stranded for hours on Friday morning in the middle of the Essequibo River.
The passengers were at the time traveling from Parika to the Supenaam stelling when the speedboat they were in encountered engine problems.
This publication was informed that the boat was loaded to its capacity and left the Parika stelling around 11:00hrs.
Passengers who were on the boat said that the Captain was fiddling with the engine at multiple periods throughout the journey and much to their angst and dismay he subsequently called for a rescue boat after realizing that something was wrong with his engine.
The passengers recalled their boat being moored around the Hog Island area until another came to their rescue. However, they related that the wait for rescue was unnerving.
The rescue boat subsequently came and offloaded the stranded passengers and their belongings.
The breakdown of this vessel comes on the heels of another incident where other passengers travelling on the Essequibo River had to be rescued after their speed boat developed a leakage and was almost sinking.
The disgruntled passengers are calling on boat operators to do routine checks on their boats before they journey to sea and are calling on the relevant governing authorities to put mechanisms in place to ensure the safety of the persons that have to use the aforementioned services.
