By Jomo Paul
[www.inewsguyana.com] – A Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo family mourning the loss of a close family member was plunged into a deeper state of grief yesterday afternoon after four persons died while swimming at a seawall koker.
Dead are 53 – year – old Radika Persaud, her 15 – year – old son Ravin Persaud, her nephew Billy Narine 12 and niece Anatina Persaud – a 9-year-old.
According to the family, they had just finished celebrating the life of a deceased relative with a one year “puja wuk” when tragedy struck once more for them.
An emotional grandmother of the deceased children, Dhanwantie Persaud told iNews on Tuesday morning that she last saw her sister [Radika] on Monday afternoon around 16:00hrs when she would have left for the seaside to do some cleaning and bathing with the children.
With tears in her eyes, the woman explained that she observed a considerable amount of time had passed and they hadn’t returned home, hence she became worried.
She said that this prompted her to venture out to the sea where she recovered the clothing of the two young boys but did not seek to raise an alarm since she concluded the aunt had ventured into the village to share out food as is customary.
The woman recounted that it was not until the third trip to the sea that they “saw the bucket about a mile away.”
She said that as the waves lashed upon the shore, she saw her grandson’s body and immediately raised an alarm.
Meanwhile, the mother of two of the children, Subrina Persaud told iNews that her kids would usually venture out to sea to take baths and swim, explaining that they knew the sea and were well aware of where to swim and where to stay away from.
“Sometime they go out to swim…we went earlier in the morning” the distraught mother said.
The crying woman explained that she last saw her children on Monday when they held the prayer service for the deceased relative.
Persaud said she found the entire issue “weird and suspicious” since her children are good swimmers and so is the aunt, who lives in the area and frequents the seaside.
“Ah hollering, ah hollering for meh son and meh daughter and nobody aint answering,” said the woman.
Her worst fears were confirmed when the grandmother stumbled upon the body of her son lying on his side in the sand. The woman explained that shortly after an alarm was raised, villagers were able to recover all four of the bodies.
The police have since launched an investigation into the incident.
