The bodies of three children were found after the capsizing, on Saturday in Guyana, of a taxi canoe traveling on the Maroni River, and another is still missing, we learned from the gendarmerie and elected officials .
“Three of the four people reported missing on Saturday following the canoe accident were found dead this Sunday,” said Colonel Vincent Rouchouse, number two of the gendarmerie in French Guiana, in the northeast of South America. .
A rapid known for its “dangerousness”
The canoe, which left Maripasoula, went to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni via the river, bordering Suriname, and carried “around twenty people” according to the mayor of Grand-Santi Félix Dada. She capsized while descending the (rapid) Poli Goudou jump, known for its “dangerousness”, located about thirty minutes from Grand-Santi, he said.
All the passengers in the canoe managed to reach the shore, except the four children. Neither their identities nor their ages have been confirmed by the gendarmerie. It could be four children from the same siblings, according to the mayor and social networks.
The association of mayors of Guyana mentioned in a press release at least “two children under ten years old and from the same siblings”.
A helicopter engaged
The accident occurred on Saturday afternoon, but authorities were not alerted until around 7 p.m. They immediately engaged the Civil Security helicopter to search for the missing.
The gendarmes were unable to get there quickly due to the lack of a canoe boat available to transport the soldiers safely, according to Colonel Rouchouse. An investigation was to be opened for manslaughter, he said.
“Landlockedness kills in Guyana”
THE Maroni River is officially non-navigable due to the lack of navigation facilities. But in fact it is used daily by thousands of people who have few alternatives to get around in this isolated part of Guyana, not served by the road network, where only small planes circulate in addition to the more numerous canoes. and less expensive.
“This tragedy reminds us that enclosure kills in Guyana, this tragedy, yet another, screams in our ears to what extent this territory is a confined cemetery,” reacted in a press release Philippe Dekon, president of the Apachi collective which carries in Guyana the fight to open up this territory as large as Portugal but where there are only 440 km of national roads and 370 km of departmental roads.
“This tragedy must collectively challenge us and unite us forcefully in order to offer other, more secure modes of transport to the inhabitants of “landlocked” municipalities,” wrote the president of the Association of Mayors of Guyana (AMG) in a press release. Michelangelo Jérémie, for whom “the road to opening up” becomes “an imperative necessity”.