Cuyuni boat mishap Survivor thanks God for sparing his life

By Andrew Carmichael –

One of the survivors of the Matouk Falls Cuyuni River boat tragedy David Prass said only the captain of the vessel was wearing a life jacket at the time of the mishap.
In an interview with Guyana Times International, Prass said after the incident, he was told if they needed life jackets, the onus is on them to make the request before the boat leaves.

Recounting what transpired on May 25, he said the boat was about to come down the falls when the engine “cut off”. “The boat turn on the side and the wave lash the boat and it turn right over and when the boat turn over, everybody go under water, nobody ain’t get to jump out or nothing, nobody ain’t see nothing until you come down with the stream and raise up. When I raise up, I saw the boat was far behind and a passenger who lived at Bartica was holding on to the boat, with someone else was to my right and my cousin Shawn Robinson was right beside me.”
According to Prass, there was only one objective in mind and that was to get to shore. “I swam ashore and as I approach shore, I saw that the Captain Junior Lyte had already made it to safety. When I reach ashore, my cousin was not too far but in the stream. So I start shouting to the captain to take off he jacket! ‘Take off you jacket’! He was not responding and when he did respond, the stream already take me cousin far.”
According to the father of one, when the boat engine went off, “a big man scramble a life jacket”. Asked whether the boat had life jackets for everyone, Prass could not tell. “To be honest, we were in the third seat and the front seat did not have any and the second seat did not have any. You see, we go in there from since January and we anxious to come home. All we were thinking about is home.”
The 26-year-old survivor said he lost everything he would have acquired since January, including about Gy$ 600,000. Asked whether he will return to the interior to work again, Prass said he did not know but indicated that it was not his first trip – the previous being late last year – when he and other relatives spent three months in the interior.
Meanwhile, the survivor said after the boat went down, he and the captain swam across the river to an island where there was a shop. “An hour and a half later, a boat came from the upper part of the river that we were coming from.” He said they stopped the boat and related the story.
According to Prass, the boat took them back to the scene where they were able to find one survivor. That survivor is the man who was able to grab a life jacket seconds before the boat went down.
“I was not wearing one, I don’t know how I made it to shore because is not like calm water, you know, you had to swim. The river was rough; you know what is a rapid. I just want to thank God.”
William Patoir and Shawn Robinson, both of New Amsterdam; Junior Bandoo of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and Clive Welcome called “Basil” or “Bazzo” of Bartica lost their lives in the accident. Those who survived are Prass, the Captain, and Maurice Hopkinson of Bartica, who was able to grab a life jacket seconds before the boat went down.