Valdeen Shears-Neptune
Coast Guard divers, police and Air Guard officers mounted a land, sea and air search in the choppy waters of the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, after four people, including a nine-year-old child and a teenager, drowned in two separate incidents at Mayaro and Manzanilla.
The bodies of pensioner Morris Sammy and his granddaughter Anna Ali were recovered, but up to press time there was no sign of Deoraj Harridass, 49, and his 13-year-old step-daughter Ranesha Basdeo.
The first drownings occurred at the Ortoire River, off the Manzanilla Road, around 7.30 am, when Basdeo went to wash her hands near the mouth of the river. Police said the child did not realise there was a 12-feet drop near the river bank and she slipped in. Basdeo, an estate constable with Allied Security Services, dived in to save her but was pulled in by the strong undercurrents. While the family hurriedly called for help, the man and his step-daughter were washed further out to sea.
They both were residents of Robert Street, Tableland. Basdeo attended the Tableland High School and was preparing to enter Form Two in September.
The family had gone on a camping trip for the weekend. Relatives milled around the area where the family had spent the night under a white tent and mattresses, but refused to speak with the media yesterday.
One woman sat on the mattress holding her head, eyes red-rimmed. She politely told the T&T Guardian that the family had gone to the nearby Mayaro Police Station.
Several of Harridass’ friends and co-workers, dressed in their security uniforms, had gathered at the beach, upon hearing the news. One man, who wished not to be named, said the teen obviously had no knowledge of the drop in the ocean.
“Is about 12 to 15 feet right out there, you see where the water looking calm and it dark, right there she was. She must be just feel her legs give out and panicked. Knowing him, he would have tried to save her,” the man said.
Another co-worker said they shared their colleague’s grief because they had worked together for over 23 years.
Both men lamented the lack of lifeguards, as well as visible danger signs along the shore. The area, they said, is a popular fishing and family liming spot.
Nearby, however, other bathers sat undisturbed, under beach umbrellas, with children running along the shore. One family from Gasparillo sat on rocks mere metres away from where Harridas and Basdeo lost their lives. They were unaware of the drownings and were in fact taking pictures, near similarly dangerous waters. They immediately left upon hearing of the tragedy.
Further along the village, a fisherman noted that the bodies would have been pulled out by currents in the early morning high tides and would come back in with the evening tide. Search parties were sent out to retrieve the bodies along the south eastern shore.
Rough waters too much
Meanwhile, at the Mayaro Police Station, Coast Guard divers and personnel had gathered after news of a second double drowning several villages away, near a line of private beach houses. The trio, from the Claxton Bay area, had been pulled out by strong currents along the shore near Mayaro Beach houses at Coconut Grove Private Road, Mayaro.
Robert Sammy looked on sadly as staff of the Boodoo Funeral Home removed the body of his father, a pensioner, who had drowned while trying to save his nine-year old granddaughter and her friend, Alisa Ramoutar, 10. By the time he had got to the site, his niece had already succumbed to her injuries.
Relatives said the ambulances came on the scene half an hour after a friend of the family, who had tried CPR on the child, decided to rush her to hospital. However, she died on the way.
A composed Sammy said his 74-year-old father was a good swimmer, but had probably suffered cramps and was unable to make it out the choppy waters. Ramoutar, a swimmer with Eagles Swimming Club, was able to swim ashore and alert other relatives.
Her brothers, 16-year-old Jordan and Aaron, 14, along with their friend, Jonathan Casey, 13, had all attempted to save Sammy and Ali. The young men, upon seeing their distraught sister running into the house, did not hesitate to dive into the waters in their attempt to save Sammy and Ali. The three siblings are competitive swimmers.
“We really tried. But Alisa said she tried to hold on to Anna and she just slipped away. He (Sammy), she said, tried to hold onto two of them, and then he disappeared. She pushed and swam back in and came running, crying into the house,” explained the eldest of the three rescuers.
They were able to pull Anna’s body back to shore, but she was unconscious by then, said the younger sibling. Sammy, in the meantime, said he was grateful to Ramoutar for even trying to save the lives of her childhood friend and his father.
Mayaro police are investigating.