Gyandass, Mallo missing at sea for 9 days

For nine days Etwaria Gyandass, 74, has been praying to the goddess of the ocean, Mother Ganga, to find her son, offering her flowers and rice every morning.

Six friends in all ventured out to sea and met with an accident that claimed at least two lives. Two of the men swam ashore and two are still missing.

Doubles vendor Siewnarine Gyandass, 51, and Denish Mallo, 23, both of Beaucarro Road in Freeport, are still missing.

Kumar Lalla, 49, and Glen Dave Prahalad, 32, survived and swam ashore.

The bodies of both Chunilal Gyandass, 53 and Ronald Narinesingh, 37, were found floating at Carli Bay two days later. These two were cremated on Monday.

A relative said Etwaria, mother of both Chunilal and Siewnarine Gyandass, has been unable to sleep and is constantly praying for her missing son and his friend Mallo.

The family has hired professional divers to search for the two missing men.

“We are not depending on the Coast Guard as they go about their duty not doing anything about finding the men,” the relative said.

Both Chunilal and Siewnarine, the relative said, were fond of the sea and spent a lot of their spare time fishing.

“It is always a treat for them to go out at sea and they always have lots to talk about when they return.”

Councillor for Orange Valley Allan Seepersad said Narinesingh was a hard-working employee of the Couva/Talparo Regional Corporation.

“He recently asked for a job letter to purchase a vehicle to transport crops that he had grown,top be sold at the Couva market,” Seepersad said.

The councillor joined with others from Orange Valley in the search for the missing men.

“This is very strange, as when or if someone drowns, the body floats up within a week. In this case nine days have gone by, and no signs of the bodies of the two remaining men.”

It was on April 14 the six friends went on a fishing lime in the Gulf of Paria. Their flat-bottomed boat overturned and sank.

Survivors Lalla and Prahalad attended the funeral for Narinesingh and Gyandass on Monday. Afterwards they joined mourners at the seaside in Carli Bay in search of the two missing men.

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said the Coast Guard did not respond to the SOS call until near midnight on the night the men got into difficulties and questioned the CG’s response, saying it was unco-ordinated and lacked any sense of urgency.

“I would like the National Security Council headed by PM Dr Keith Rowley to do a comprehensive review and assessment of the functions and service of the Coast Guard,” he added.

The Coast Guard, Indarsingh said, is supposed to be the gold standard when it came to ocean safety and protecting the country’s maritime boundaries.