Commander for Regional Division #7, Mr. Dion Moore has confirmed a ‘river mishap’ that occurred on Saturday at about 17:00hrs at Gatie Falls, Semang Creek, Middle Mazaruni River.
Moore said the river mishap has resulted in the disappearance of a male miner whose identity is so far unknown.
Enquiries disclosed that on Saturday, at about 08:30hrs, Garfield Benn, a 41-year-old Amerindian boat captain of Tassarene Village, Issano, Middle Mazaruni River boarded his blue & white wooden boat powered by a 75 HP outboard engine along with five (5) occupants namely: 43-year-old Griffith Joseph Fredericks and 47-year-old Kenneth Tancredo, both of Seventh Field, Cummings Lodge, ECD; and 3 other persons, whose names are yet to be ascertained. They departed Long Island, Middle Mazaruni River enroute to Semang Creek.
However, they stopped at Semang Landing and later continued their journey, and sometime thereafter, the boat captain (Garfield) experienced a problem with his leg and gave one of the occupants of the boat control of the engine.
Whilst navigating the boat in the vicinity of Gatie Falls, Semang Creek the said boat engine collided with a rock.
The occupants were flung overboard after which everyone with the exception of one person surfaced and were able to swim to shore.
A search party was formed and is currently making checks for the missing person. The identity of the one missing person has not yet been confirmed.
Investigations are in progress.
