8 injured after boats collide in Canje River; captain arrested  – INews Guyana

Eight people, including two children, were injured on Tuesday afternoon after two boats collided head-on in the Canje River near Baracara, leaving the captain of one of the vessels hospitalised with serious head injuries and the captain of the other in police custody as investigations continue.

The collision occurred at about 14:30hrs in the vicinity of Pat Walla, Canje Creek, approximately two and a half miles from Baracara Village.

According to police, one of the vessels involved was a privately operated passenger boat transporting a Ministry of Health and Social Services medical outreach team that had just concluded an outreach exercise in the riverain community. The other was an unregistered passenger boat travelling towards Baracara with eight occupants, including several children.

Police said preliminary investigations indicate that the two vessels collided head-on while navigating the waterway.
The captain of the passenger boat travelling to Baracara, 38-year-old Clairmont Amsterdam, sustained serious head injuries in the collision.

He was initially taken to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for further medical treatment.

Among those injured aboard Amsterdam’s vessel were his daughter, Clayanna Amsterdam, Mikel Ali Joseph, Oscar Joseph, two children and the other occupants of the boat.

The remaining injured passengers were treated at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where they remain under observation.

Baracara Village Chairman Marshall Thompson told this publication that the Ministry of Health had hired two passenger boats to transport its medical outreach team to and from the community.
He explained that one of the boats is owned by a resident of Baracara, while the second is owned by a resident of the Berbice River and was being operated by its owner at the time of the collision.

It was the latter vessel, carrying approximately 10 members of the medical outreach team, that collided with the passenger boat.

Thompson said the medical personnel had completed the outreach exercise and were returning from the community when the collision occurred.

He said he arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and was told by persons there that the captain of the boat transporting the medical personnel had not been paying attention immediately before the collision.

The chairman stressed that this was the information relayed to him by persons at the scene.

Police have since taken the captain of the boat transporting the medical outreach team into custody as investigators continue their probe into the circumstances surrounding the collision.

Investigators are expected to interview the occupants of both vessels as part of the ongoing investigation to determine what led to the crash.

The Ministry of Health regularly conducts medical outreaches to remote communities such as Baracara, providing residents with access to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who would otherwise require lengthy journeys to access medical care.

 

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