Guyana Coast Guard vessel collides with civilian boat; Operator, Mother dies and baby survives

Guyana: The incident of collision between a Guyanese Coast Guard vessel and a civilian boat was reported in the Moruca River, Region One (Barima Waini) on Friday. This has resulted in the death of two people including the boat operator and a mother.

The collision was held between the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard Radar Craft RC 17 which was commanded by Sergeant and a civilian boat. According to the initial investigation, the incident occurred at around 6:45 am on Friday morning and the civilian vessel was occupied by three adults and one baby, while the other one consisted of personnel from the Coast Guard.

During the collision, two injuries including the vessel operator and baby’s mother were reported who were transported to the Charity Hospital in Guyana. However, the hospital staff declared them dead on arrival.

The investigation on the matter has been started by the Guyana Police Force which also outlined that the vessel of Coast Guard was supposed to reach at Santa Rosa, but the incident occurred in the middle of its path.

Besides this, the Coast Guard personel have not reported any further injury as other people are safe and secure.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Omar Khan, Officers and Ranks of the Guyana Defence Force extended condolences to the families of the deceased and said that the incident is heartening as it caused death of two precious life.

Notably, the incident has caused havoc among the people as they asserted that this is not the first it is happening. Such incidents become normal for these rivers as earlier Pomeroon river was prone to such crashings, now the coast guard people caused the severe crash at Moruca river as well.

Following the incident, the broken Coast Guard vessel was transported to the bottom within the Pomeroon River. The Guyana Defence Force mentioned that they will critically evaluate the boat and determine the cause of the collision.