PARAMARIBO--Suriname’s usual end-of-the-year cheer was rudely replaced by a bleak cloud of mourning Friday, when a boat transporting people on Coppename River sunk, causing multiple dead. Confirmed reports are of seven dead -four children and three women - as well as some 20 survivors and three people missing. Unconfirmed reports have so far placed the number of fatalities at eleven.
Around midday Friday, much was not yet known about what caused the mishap that occurred around 3.00am. Reports are that the vessel had left the village of Cornelis Kondre toward Boskamp in District Saramacca around midnight, carrying at least 30 people, several of them children. The boat sank near the village of Kalebas Creek, about halfway to its destination. Boskamp is a popular transhipment point from where passengers can catch the bus to either Paramaribo in the east or Nickerie in the west, both bustling with year-end activities.
The reports say that the boat’s departure time may have been unfortunate; it was pitch dark in the area and a strong wind had been torturing the river. Village elder Conchita Alcantara at Kalebas Creek said the boat captain had chosen to set sail at that hour, because the river had been too rough at night, but a “big wave” still caused panic.
“Everybody shifted to one side of the boat, which caused it to capsize. They still tried to scoop the water out, but it was too late. And then a second big wave came that pushed everybody apart, with the dramatic result,” she said.
Alcantara said she had been alerted of the incident around 5.00am, after which she sent search parties out immediately to look for survivors. “We found several people alive, but we also found the first corpses,” she said.
By daybreak at least 13 people had been found alive and three dead bodies had been recovered from the river, one of them a child. Around midday the reports placed the number of deaths at seven and “more than 20 people having been found alive,” according to Alcantara. A woman and three children were still missing.
Alcantara identified the people on board the boat as the village elder of Cornelis Kondre, with his family and several other residents from that village. “It’s all one family. Everybody was from there. This is a disaster. It is also very emotional for me to experience. The village elder himself survived, but he lost many grandchildren today. He is here, together with other villagers, and you can see that he is suffering under this,” she said.
The search was around midday still on for at least three more people, two children and one woman. There were no official reports yet from police and government on the incident.
The passengers had reportedly not been wearing swimming vests, which since is a prerequisite for private passenger boats that work Suriname’s waterways. “A lot of people in these parts do not like to wear their swimming vests, but now they can see why it’s necessary,” said Alcantara.
Residents of Kalebas Creek are continuing the search, but Alcantra said hope of finding more survivors was dim. “This concerns two children and a woman. It has been too long, and it would be a miracle if they survived out there all this time. They were not wearing vests. If they had been wearing vests, I would have had more hope.”
