FATHER, TWO DAUGHTERS MISSING
IN LABASA RIVER; SON RESCUED BY MAN
Aman last night allegedly threw his three children into the Labasa River from a boat and then jumped into the water.
Late into the night Police were searching for two of the children and their father during low tide.
The third child, a Year Five student of St Mary’s Primary School, managed to survive and was at the Labasa Police Station and then taken to the Labasa Hospital. RB Patel Supermarket employee, Jasman Singh, was the first person at the scene and rescued the child.
He said he was at Labasa Club near Sangam Avenue Street after 6pm, waiting for his son when he noticed a man in a boat with his three children acting very strangely. “The man drove the boat up the river and few minutes later I saw the boat hitting first the mangrove, then floating at a distance and then hitting the river bank,” Mr Singh said.
“I quickly ran out and came near the boat and found this boy inside the boat. “I brought him out and asked him how he managed to bring the boat near the river bank and what happened.
“The boy said his mother had left them and so the father, had consumed alcohol and got drunk,” Mr Singh said.
“He then said the father who is a fisherman brought him and the two sisters into the boat at Labasa River.
“Then he threw the boy and two sisters and then he jumped into the water. “The boy somehow managed to cling to the boat and got inside while he saw his sisters struggling in the river.”
Mr Singh said then he immediately contacted the Police, who then started the search for the father and two girls. Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed that that they had received a report.
“The eldest boy of this family managed to come to the river bank and is currently at Labasa Police Station,” Ms Naisoro said. “The officers are talking to him and trying to get information so that they can rescue his father and two sisters.
“A team of Police officers managed to get into two boats looking for the victims.”