2023-12-24 20:26:23
The bodies of two children were found after the capsize on Saturday of a taxi canoe traveling on the Maroni River in Guyana, and two others are still missing, we learned from the gendarmerie on Sunday.
The canoe, which left Maripasoula, went to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni via the river, bordering Suriname, and carried “around twenty people” according to the mayor of Grand-Santi, Félix Dada.
The boat capsized while it was descending the (rapid) Poli Goudou jump, known for its “dangerousness” and located about thirty minutes from Grand-Santi, said Félix Dada.
Research in progress
All the passengers in the canoe managed to reach the shore, except the four children. Their identities have not yet been confirmed but they could be four children from the same siblings, according to the mayor and social networks.
The accident occurred on Saturday afternoon, but authorities were not alerted until around 7 p.m. They immediately engaged the civil security helicopter to search for the missing.
The bodies of two children, “whose age or identity we cannot at this stage confirm”, were recovered on Sunday, declared Colonel Vincent Rouchouse, number 2 of the gendarmerie in Guyana. The gendarmes have still not been able to get there due to a lack of canoe boat available to transport the soldiers safely, he said.
“Landlockedness kills in Guyana”
An investigation will be opened for manslaughter, also indicated Colonel Vincent Rouchouse.
The Maroni River is officially non-navigable due to the lack of navigation facilities. But in fact it is used daily by thousands of people who have few alternatives for getting around in this isolated part of Guyana, not connected to the road network, where only small planes circulate in addition to canoes, which are more numerous and less expensive.
“This tragedy reminds us that isolation kills in Guyana, this tragedy, yet another, screams in our ears to what extent this territory is a confined cemetery,” reacted in a press release Philippe Dekon, president of the Apachi collective, which brings to Guyana the fight to open up this territory as large as Portugal but where only 440 km of national roads and 370 km of departmental roads exist.
#Guyana #children #died #capsize #canoe #Maroni #River #missing