Berbice: Two fishing vessels were reportedly attacked by pirates on Thursday and Friday in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Corentyne River.
One of the boats owned by ‘Palwah’ of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, was hijacked, while the other was severely damaged by pirates armed with shotguns and cutlasses.
The hijacked boat was equipped with two 48 horse-power Yamaha outboard engines and more than $6 million worth of other equipment and fishing materials. This incident occurred around 18:00hrs on Thursday.
The other incident occurred on Friday morning at about 02:00hrs when the sea robbers attacked a boat owned by Dalchand of Rosignol. The pirates, after robbing the fishermen, damaged the engine of their boat, before making good their escape.
The men were rescued by members of the Upper Corentyne Fishermen Co-op at about 13:00hrs on Friday. They were reportedly drifting when their boat was spotted by fishermen on the Corentyne River.
According to Berbice Piracy Committee Chairman, Parvinchandra Deodat, he was on his way home from Georgetown when he received a call from a manager of the Number 66 Insure Fish Boat Complex, informing him of the incident.
He noted that based on the seriousness of the case, he stepped on the accelerator, but in the vicinity of the Number 19 Public Road, he was stopped by two police ranks who emerged from behind a parked combine. He said despite explaining the situation, he was detained and given a ticket for speeding. Nevertheless, he said that as he arrived at the Number 66 Fishermen’s Co-op, he conducted his investigations but not before making sure that the affected fishermen were taken care of. “They were given accommodation and food stuff to last them until their bosses arrived in Berbice,” Deodat stated.
He said that the two captains, Ronald and Seepaul, related to him what transpired. Seepaul stated that the pirates went away with 40 snappers; 20 trouts and glue from his boat. The chairman noted that the relevant authorities were informed of the incident, and a search party has been sent to the Corentyne River. He further stated that they are not sure if other boats had suffered from the pirate attack, but that this is the fourth time this month fishing boats have been attacked by pirates.
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