Almost one month after three persons who left Suriname on a fishing boat en route to Guyana perished in the Corentyne River, the decomposed body of the third victim was found on Friday afternoon along the #48 foreshore in a clump of bushes.
The body found is that of forty-eight-year old Sherida Hussein of Lot 27 Pilot Street New Amsterdam. It was positively identified by her son, nineteen-year-old Joshua Samaroo who was able to determine that the body was that of his missing mother.
Her son said that he received a call on Thursday afternoon with information relating to a body being seen somewhere along the foreshore.
“On Thursday someone called me and gave me some information and I acted on that information and I went to the police station and informed them this morning. So, after that we formed a team and we all went out to the #48 foreshore earlier today and we searched the bushes where we found her body.”
Samaroo noted that he was able to identify that the body was his mother since she had a distinguishing marks on her leg.
“One of her legs was not that decomposed and I saw the mark that she always had and that’s how I knew it was her. Only last Thursday I started the religious work for her; paying my final respects and it is currently ongoing”
The young man said that even though it is a sad and emotional time for him, he is feeling much better that he was able to locate his mother’s body so as to at least have closure.
The trio, Sherida Hussein, Baboni Harihar and Alwin Joseph went missing within the vicinity of the #63 Beach on the night of February 08th, shortly after they were dropped off on a sandbank.
According to information, the three boarded a boat sometime around 7PM on February 08th and made calls to relatives in Guyana to wait for them at the #63 Beach.
However, on the night of the incident, Hussein called her son, Joshua Samaroo when she disembarked the boat and indicated to him that she is on a sandbank and that the place was very dark, cold and there was no sight of land.
He said by the time they reached to the location, there was no sight of his mother, or anyone at all. He said he made calls to a few friends to check at other locations where she could have possibly been dropped off but that effort proved futile.
Additionally, family members of Harihar and Joseph were also on their way to pick them up as they had indicated that they arrived in Guyana and was dropped off on a sandbank.
On February 10th, the body of Alwin Joseph was found along the #60 foreshore by relatives who had ventured out on a search and rescue mission. Shortly after, the body of seventy-seven-year old Baboni Harihar was discovered along the #69 foreshore by fishermen who had went out early that morning to ply their trade.
Both Harihar and Joseph’s body was found without marks of violence. Family members of the duo said that the sudden deaths came to the family as a shock, given the fact that contacts were made with each other less than 10 minutes before they all went missing.
Nandranie Shamsundar, a relative of Joseph said that the young man was returning to Guyana to visit a sick cousin who was hospitalized. According to her, the Joseph and the cousin shared a close relationship, hence, the reason for him making a quick visit to Guyana.
“He deh bad and he nah walk and so now so that’s why Alwin was coming to see him and look how he end up and dead. All a we grow up together and we used to live in Betsy Ground Canje so all a we close and we live like brother and sister”
Meanwhile, Hussein had left Guyana back in 2020 for medical reasons. She was expected to return sooner but was unable to do so since the border between Guyana and Suriname was closed during that time, thus, resulting in her taking the back track route to return home.
Her son, Samaroo along with a team had been searching tirelessly and working with the tides, hoping to locate her body. After the first week, they had suspended the search.
The boat captain and two fishermen who sailed from Suriname with the trio and who are responsible for their deaths were arrested in Suriname after a thorough investigation.
They told the law men that when they dropped the trio off at #63 beach, they thought they had hit the seashore, unfortunately it was the sandbank.
