-spent five hours on the water struggling to stay alive
At 18-years-old, Dwayne Atkins, a survivor of the MV Barima tragedy, already had a wife and baby, but as fate would have it, their lives were snatched away by the fierce waters of the Atlantic Ocean before he had a chance to save them.
Now a young widower, he was tasked with the responsibility of identifying their decomposed bodies at the Suddie Hospital Mortuary,
Though it was tough, he recognized his wife from the clothes she was wearing and the baby, from her “pampers.”
He is among 76 passengers and crew members who survived the catastrophe, while the duo’s bodies are among over 70 that have been recovered so far.
When we caught up with him on Thursday morning at Suddie, he was trying to be strong, as he arranged to take get the remains to Kumaka on Friday for burial.
Recounting the ordeal, Atkins said he went down to the canteen in the lower deck to purchase something to eat and saw water getting into the boat.
He did not know that it was a signal for the worse to come – a signal that would change his life and the lives of so many people who have been directly impacted, forever!
When he went back on the upper deck he heard his baby daughter crying. He picked her up and fed her “biscuits and drinks.”
After she finished eating she fell asleep in his arms and he gave her back to his wife. He then spread his hammock on the floor and tried to get some sleep.
Suddenly the sound of the boat’s engine stopped. Next thing he knew, the boat had toppled on one side. Before he realized what was happening, he went under it as screams filled the air.
He said that it happened so fast that his family disappeared before he even had a chance to try to save them.
As he tried to get out from under the boat someone grabbed onto his hand and started tugging at it. His instinct was to “loose out the person hand and try to push up to catch air. “Me drink up lil water while me try to come up to try to breathe. Then me see a jar drift pass me me and dah me hold on pon and dah me survive pon from 11 ‘o’ clock till 4 ‘o’ clock the next morning,” Atkins recalled.
During that time he had drifted away “far from everybody…” Dehydrated and exhausted, he had already given up hope that he would remain alive. But thankfully a case of water passed near him.
“And me grab one (a bottle) and start bite and start squeeze to drink water and me get lil strength fuh hold on again…. Me study all kinda thing, me study if me gon live or me gon die. But I prayed to God and God must be hear my prayers and he rescued me,” Atkins lamented.
He felt relieved when he finally saw a light from the Coast Guard’s boat coming in the distance. He yelled and screamed and drifted towards the boat until he got the attention of the officers.
They held his two hands and pulled him into the boat and “after that me nah know anything anymore…” He was sent back to his community at Kumaka and returned via plane to identify the bodies.
Another woman who survived with her 10-month-old baby, but lost her three-year-old daughter, was also there. The child’s body was eventually recovered. She was able to identity it from the t-shirt she was wearing.
She was among a few other people sitting under a shed in the compound of the Suddie Hospital. As they waited, they were served packet snacks and beverages. Shortly after they were called to go in and check if any of the bodies were those of their loved ones.
Missing miner
Paul Seenanand, 64, a gold miner told his family he was travelling on the boat last Saturday to return to the North West District. They are unsure if he made it on the boat, because the last they heard from him was when he contacted his son on Friday.
He promised his son to go and visit his grandson the same day but he never showed up. He did not contact family members after that and they are desperately trying to find him.
His niece, Beverly Lawrence, went to the Suddie Hospital mortuary in an effort to identify his remains among those recovered.
She saw the badly decomposed bodies, which have been placed “in a container without any coolness,” and “covered in black plastic,” but could not recognize any of them as being that of her uncle.
She was told to keep checking because more bodies were expected to arrive from Charity. However, she’s still praying that he was not on the boat and that he is alive somewhere and can make contact with the family.
She also pleaded with anyone who has information on his whereabouts to contact her on: 673-5976 or the nearest police station.
Meanwhile, over at the masjid at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo, the funeral service was held for Bibi Mohamed and her husband, Ravindra Singh.
Ravindra’s body was recovered on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday, their son, Safraz, identified him and was going to sign the “the last paper” to have him transported for the burial on Thursday.
A staff from the parlour informed him that the body of a woman was there since Monday and had not been identified.
He asked if he could see the body and she allowed him. It turned out that it was the body of his mother.
Bibi’s daughter, Nafeeza said her parents started selling clothing in the North West five years ago.
They would join the boat every two weeks to make the trip. On Saturday her mother called her before the boat left and said it was really packed.
Nafeeza and Bibi’s sister, Naseema and her niece, Seema described the couple as being very hardworking and kind.
They were all saddened about the tragic way that their lives and the lives of so many were snuffed out.
They expressed condolences to the other grieving families.
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