Junior Kenroy Sooklall, 24, a private soldier in the Guyana Defence Force, stationed at Fort Island is now missing following a boat mishap yesterday afternoon in the vicinity of St. Lawrence, East Bank Essequibo River.
Enquiries disclosed that around 16:45hrs eight soldiers were heading to Parika from Essequibo in a private boat when in the vicinity of St. Lawrence, they heard shouts of persons in the river and observed a boat was sinking.
As the ranks quickly went in the direction of the persons, they observed four males in the water and two other males were in a green and black boat a few meters away. The ranks managed to rescue three persons from the water, while the fourth male went down.
They further rescued the two other men who were in the boat, after which, the vessel went down.
The ranks then took the rescued men to Mangal’s Wharf.
On arrival at the scene, the police team learned the names of the persons to be Everette Tudor, 40, a Staff Sergeant of the GDF; Ramesh Beepat, 28, the captain of the sunken boat; Turendra Lochan, a barber of Zeelugt New Housing Scheme; Eon John, 14, a student of Parika Primary School; and 16-year-old student, Ryan Beepat.
The rescued persons were further questioned and it was learned that the missing person was Junior Kenroy Sooklall.
The rescued persons were escorted to Parika Police Station, where breathalyzer tests were conducted. Tudore showed .101 and .114 micrograms; Turendra Lochan showed .108 and .119 micrograms BAC; Captain Ramesh Beepat showed .132 and .118 micrograms.
The captain was further questioned and it was learned that the five passengers were traveling from Fort Island when they hit a wave and capsized in the sunken boat which is a 17 feet wooden vessel with a 150 Hp Yamaha outboard engine that is unregistered.
A search and rescue team was dispatched into the area in search of the missing person but he was not found.
Further searches are being conducted this morning as investigations continue
