Police are investigating an alleged drowning which claimed the life of Ramesh Ramphal, a 28-year-old carpenter of Lot 142 Britannia Village, West Coast Berbice, which occurred yesterday about 17:00hrs at the eastern side of Tempe Canal, West Coast Berbice.
Investigations so far have revealed that Ramphal and his 23-year-old girlfriend Rushelle Craig of Waterloo, Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice were at the mentioned canal for a swim. She told detectives that they were on the western side of the canal when her boyfriend walked over to the eastern side and back-flicked into the canal but failed to resurface.
After waiting for about ten minutes, she hurried to his home a mile away and informed his relatives.
A search party was formed and they found the deceased stuck in the mud at the said area where he allegedly back-flicked about an hour after he went down.
He was pronounced dead at the Fort Wellington Public Hospital.