Rough tides blamed for Corentyne fisherman’s death

– another feared drowned

By Michael Itwaru

Extremely rough waters have reportedly claimed the lives of two Corentyne brothers who disappeared on a fishing expedition offshore the Albion coast on Monday, leaving loved ones grief-stricken.
Confirmed dead is Hemchand Dowlatram, 52, called “Slash” of Hogtown, Kilcoy Long Dam. His body was found somewhere offshore the coast of Number 19 Village. Grieving family members told Guyana Times International that Dowlatram left home around 05: 00h on Monday for sea, in the company of his brother Naimchand Ram, 42.
A search party found the body of Dowlatram early Tuesday morning wrapped up and his right leg tightly fastened to a portion of seine he used to trap fish.
The 30-foot wooden boat he owned was also spotted capsized offshore the Number 19 Village coast about 08: 30h. A 15 horsepower Yamaha outboard engine was also recovered with a red gas container. Dowlatram’s body was found shortly after, clad in underwear.
This newspaper understands that the siblings depended on fishing to support their families and it was their daily routine to set their seine offshore Albion. Sometime after lunch on Monday, distressing news reached Dowlatram’s wife and two daughters that violent and high waves lashed their boat and Ram was swept away, while Dowlatram was still onboard battling for his life.

Two other fishers caught in the quandary, fled for shore, not being able to get close to the desperate brothers.
Dowlatram’s body was transported to the New Amsterdam Hospital Mortuary after being brought back to the Albion koker. He is survived by his wife Inmattie Dowlatram, 45, and two daughters Latadevi, 18, and Tanuja, 16. The family lives in a small wooded house in Hogtown, where the primary activities are fishing and farming.
His brother Naimchand Ram called “Naata” is also feared drowned. Naimchand and his wife Jasmattie Ram live in a rundown wooden shack at Train Line Dam, Port Mourant, with their five children, who are between the ages of 2 to 10 years old.
She said when her husband left their residence about 03: 00h on Monday, it was the last time she saw him alive. As this newspaper approached their home on Tuesday, their son Dinish, who was closely behind his mother, asked: “Mommy dem find daddy?,” to which she responded “no”. There was a pot mounted on two bricks under their house as Jasmattie prepared a meal for her children.
Up to late Tuesday, there was no sighting of the missing Ram. Unusually high tides on Monday lashed Guyana’s coast, overtopping the seawall along the Rupert Craig Highway and causing massive flooding and traffic chaos for several hours. Public Works Minister Robeson Benn said the country was experiencing a high tide of 3.15 metres, and in the affected areas, the waves (rollers) were coming in at 1.2 metres or more.
He stated that those waves “overwhelmed” the seawalls between the Turkeyen and Sheriff Street areas, particularly because erosion of the foreshores in this section has occurred.
On Tuesday, the Hydrometeorological Service in a statement said that coastal Guyana has been under threat by spring tides since Tuesday, January 8. “Unfortunately on Monday 14, January 2013, a frontal system passed through the Atlantic, just north east of the Lesser Antilles. This supported increase in wind flow/ speeds, resulting from this weather system, coupled with the spring tides would have created the type of storm surges experienced Monday afternoon along Guyana’s coast”.