Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, Wednesday said he hopes to get information by the end of the day regarding reports that four Guyanese nationals are feared dead after a fishing boat sank in the Saramacca River near Lareco in Suriname last Saturday evening.
The Saramacca River is regarded as a key waterway for the Maroon communities who live along its banks and who use it for transportation and trade.
‘I am hoping by the end of today, I can get some more information from our ambassador here, and then I can put out an official statement from the Ministry of Agriculture..We are hoping that these people, that vessel can find them alive and bring them back to Suriname safely. So, I am very optimistic that that can happen,’ Mustapha told reporters.
‘Presently, I don’t know what are the circumstances. I have spoken to our ambassador to get some more information. Hopefully, by the end of today, I can get more information,’ he added.
Suriname police said that they had received a report early Monday morning that the crew were floating on ice cubes. They said that the caller had indicated that people in the area had used their boats to search for the four people, without success.
The National Army Marine Corps and the Groningen police were also deployed in the search.
The wife of the boat owner’s reported that her husband and three crew members were missing. She did not provide he names of the crew members.
Mustapha said that the situation is very concerning, adding ‘we are very concerned because, generally, whenever our fisherfolks encounter difficulties like those, we tend to work along with our Coast Guard, work along with the other agencies, so that we can try as much as possible to locate them.
‘However, this incident took place in Suriname waters, and I’m hoping that the Surinamese authorities, because I have also seen news that the Surinamese authorities have sent out their patrol vessels and also helicopters to look for these guys.’