A member of Island Hikers yesterday responded to criticism following the death of Richard Baird during a trek to the Hollis Waterfalls in Aripo.
In a telephone interview with CNC3 yesterday, the member of Island Hikers, Michael Charlarie, said Baird may have slipped off a precipice after taking a short break during the return journey and hit his head on a boulder.
Charlarie was part of the team of members of protective services, villagers and members of the public who assisted in removing Baird’s decomposing body from the Aripo forest between Tuesday and yesterday.
CNC3 News showed dramatic footage of the National Operations Centre helicopter hovering in the forest as crime scene investigators loaded the body on the aircraft.
The Island Hiker member said that judging from what he saw on the scene, Baird survived the initial fall.
“The first drop was not that high. From the evidence I saw he got back up and started to move for approximately 100 metres,” Charlarie said.
He suggested Baird was possibly disoriented from the fall and appeared to have fallen off an even stepper precipice, where his body was found.
Asked how the other members of the hiking group only realised that Baird was missing until after they completed the mission, Charlarie said the 60 hikers were split into groups some of which may have passed him without realising it.
“He was in the middle of the pack. There were people much slower than him,” he said as he explained that those in front would have thought he would have caught up with them and those behind would not have known that he had stopped if he had fallen before they passed.
Charlarie described 55-year-old Baird, an IT specialist with Petrotrin, as an experienced hiker.
“He was with us before and he was pretty good,” Charlarie said.
While he admitted that the organisation would consider additional safety protocols and procedures on their next trip, he also pointed out that hiking had its inherent dangers.
“I am sure the people who are interested in safety do not participate in such activities. There are risks on hikes, even in simple activities people die,” Charlarie said as he pointed out the fact that two people drowned in family outings to Blanchisseuse, last weekend.
Police were forced to abandon their removal plans for Baird’s body after it was discovered by a resident on Tuesday, as the helicopter was unable to land in the dense forest.
The helicopter was used to ferry villagers to the site on Tuesday and they assisted police in clearing site for the aircraft to get close to the ground.
Even with the assistance, the helicopter was unable to land at the site due to the steep hillside and had to hover inches from the slope as the body was loaded.
The body was transported to the T&T Regiment’s Camp Cumuto base and then taken to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where the autopsy is expected today.