Three missing after dropped off at No. 63 Beach sand bank
-were returning `back track’ from Suriname
Two women and a man are now missing after they were dropped off on a “sand bank” located at Number 63 Beach late Monday evening. They were enroute to Guyana from Suriname.
Missing are Sherida Hussain also known as ‘Sherry’, 49, of Lot 274 Pilot Street, New Amsterdam; Babuni Harihar, also known as ‘Doris’, 75, of Number Two Village, East Canje Berbice; and Alwin Joseph, originally from Betsy Ground Village, East Canje Berbice, who has been residing in Suriname for over twenty years.
Commander of Region Six, Senior Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan, yesterday told Stabroek News, that an investigation has been launched. He said the coast guard has been contacted and a patrol vessel activated from New Amsterdam, while a boat and engine was activated for a search with ranks and relatives of the missing persons.
Further, Ramlakhan informed that he has contacted counterparts in Suriname, who are assisting with the investigation and search at their end.
A senior source in Suriname confirmed that they are in contact with Ramlakhan and that efforts were being made to locate the boat and captain.
According to Hussain’s son, Joshua Samaroo, 17, his mother phoned him on Monday around 7.30 pm and told him that the boat which she boarded in Suriname enroute to Guyana put them off on a “sand bank” at Number 63 Beach.
He said, the woman, who ventured to Suriname in November to visit relatives, told him that they were surrounded by waistheight water. “She was saying that they’re off at some bank and the water is up to her waist.” She also said that she couldn’t see land.
Samaroo immediately filed a police report and rushed to the Number 63 Beach from New Amsterdam, where he and relatives began searching.
However, after they did not find anyone, they spent the night in Springlands and continued searching yesterday morning, after which the police later joined them later in the day for another search.
As of 2.30 pm yesterday, ranks were forced to call off the search due to the tide, Samaroo noted.
Meanwhile, the young man yesterday told Stabroek News, that he is holding out hope that they find his mother alive. He said she was a single parent who raised him to be the man he is today.
Meanwhile, Harihar’s granddaughter, Nadira Valdez, yesterday said, that around 9 pm on Monday evening her relatives in Suriname informed her that her grandmother would be returning home.
According to the woman, her grandmother visited Suriname in December after her cousin was pregnant and they were celebrating a birthday.
She stated, “When I