Police are investigating a river mishap involving two boats carrying persons returning from a wedding house in Batavia Village in Region #7 which collided in the Mazaruni River at around 8:00 hrs. on Thursday.
Each boat had four occupants. The occupants were: Victorine Miguel, Clifton Adams, Tyndall Miguel, and Aaron Miguel, all of Batavia Village.
The occupants of Boat #2 (75 HP Yamaha outboard engine) were: Junior Gaddett called ‘Bird’ an unlicensed captain and three passengers — Edeena Smith, Ishmael Smith, and Temera Smith, of Batavia Village.
Enquiries disclosed that on Sunday (July 16), all individuals mentioned were invitees to a wedding celebration held at the residence of Devon Boyal at Batavia Village.
At about 01:50 hrs on Monday morning, the occupants of the first boat, a canoe, boarded and departed the Landing near the wedding house. Clifton Adams and Victorine Miguel were the persons with paddles. At about 02:00 hrs, the occupants boarded boat #2 and departed the Landing, captained by Junior Gaddett.
The location was very dark, so an occupant from boat #1, Aaron Miguel, used the light from a cellphone screen to wave in hopes that the captain of boat #2 would see him.
However, the captain (Junior Gaddett) did not see him, and the boat collided with the canoe, throwing the occupants of boat #1 overboard. Upon realizing what had occurred, Gaddett rendered assistance and rescued all occupants of boat #1 and took them to land.
Upon checking, two persons were injured, namely: Victorine Miguel and Clifton Adams. They were taken to the Bartica Regional Hospital, where they were seen and examined by a doctor on duty and admitted as patients.
Clifton Adams suffered a dislocated elbow, while Victorine Miguel received injuries to the forehead.
