The Library Media — National & World · World Desk
Final Body Recovered as Six Die in Trinidad Boat Collision
By Maya Wilson
Photo: 999real / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
The body of the sixth and final missing passenger from a collision between two pleasure craft off Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago, was recovered on Saturday, November 14, bringing the confirmed death toll to six. No one remains missing, according to a report by CBC Barbados carrying a Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) wire report.
The collision occurred at about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 8, near Point Cannings. The impact caused extensive damage to one vessel and threw several passengers into the water. Neither craft was identified in the report.
Twenty-six people were injured, although the report did not provide details about their conditions. Six passengers were initially reported missing. The recovery of the final body on Saturday brought the search for those six to a close.
The last victim was identified as 35-year-old Lorenzo Oliver, of Carenage. His body was spotted near the shoreline close to Power Boats Ltd in Chaguaramas on Saturday morning. The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard alerted the Hunters Search and Rescue Team after the discovery. Coast Guard personnel retrieved the body and took it to the Forensic Science Centre for identification and examination.
The other five victims were Anil Ahyee, Ameer Mohammed, Titus Augustine, Kieyanna Seechan and Jaheem Richards. Their bodies were recovered at locations along the Chaguaramas coastline, including near the Coast Guard headquarters at Staubles Bay, Scotland Bay, Gasparee Island and Point Cannings.
Families and community mourn victims
Relatives gathered at the Chaquacabana Beach Resort while awaiting news of those missing after the collision. Earlier in the week, residents of Point Cumana in Carenage held a vigil for Seechan, Mohammed and Ahyee.
Seechan worked as a clerical assistant at St Peter’s RC Primary School in Carenage under the On-the-Job Training programme. She hoped to become a teacher and was studying at ROYTEC in the evenings, according to the report.
Her family had been planning her 18th birthday celebration for December 9. Her aunt, Dixie-Ann Phillip, expressed the family’s grief and questioned what justice could mean after the loss of life.
“Because what do you call justice? Lives have been lost. There isn’t justice for that.”
The Ministry of Public Utilities also paid tribute to Seechan, describing her as a valued member of the On-the-Job Training family.
The recoveries mean all six passengers reported missing after the collision have now been found. The final body was recovered six days after the crash, and the reported toll stands at six dead and 26 injured.
Cause not reported
The CBC Barbados report, carrying the CMC account, gave no cause for the collision. It did not say what caused the two pleasure craft to collide, and it mentioned no investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
The condition of the 26 injured people was also not detailed. The vessels’ names were not provided.
With Oliver’s recovery, the search for the six missing passengers has ended. Families and communities are left mourning six people killed in the collision, while the circumstances that led to the crash remain unreported.
Maya Wilson
World Desk Lead, The Library Media
From The Library — the estate of our family.
