– vessel failed inspection… “we watched them drift away helplessly for hours” by Gary EleazarThe GDFS Essequibo has joined in the search for the four missing crew members of theThe 18 year-old engineer Subash KistenChrisann V, which sank just in the Atlantic Coast near the mouth of the Moruca River on Wednesday evening.The army vessel joins a plethora of small planes, maritime vessels and privately operated boats that have been deployed in search of the men.Some have opined that hopes of finding them alive,Cheap Stitched MLB Jerseys, dwindles with each minute that passes and that the terrain only further complicates the situation.The missing and now feared dead are Captain John Vansluytman, Julian Garraway, a 16 year-old called ‘Speedy’ as well as Elliot Jack.Two of the sailors who were rescued were yesterday at the Georgetown Maritime Agency where they related a horror story about a vessel that was not supposed to have been on sea in the first place.Each sea-faring vessel which is registered and operates in Guyana is required to be presented for inspection every 12 months, but according to officials the tug, Chrisann V, was not presented for inspection when it was due the last time around and had failed its previous inspection.One of the rescued sailors who identified himself as the ship’s engineer is 18 year-old Subash KistenMIssing: Elliot Jackwho resides at Meadow Bank, East Bank Demerara, while the other, who is also said to be 18 years-old is Chris Narine of Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara.Narine, who was the more vocal of the two in relating his tale to the Maritime Officials at a session presided over by Public Works and Communication, Minister Robeson Benn,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, said that the vessels had developed an engine problem several hours before the fateful incident.He said that the vessel left an area called Silver Beach and was heading to Buck Hall, Essequibo, to collect mining equipment which they were to transport to the North West.On the way to Buck Hall, the engine failed, according to Kisten.This occurred on Monday at about 08:00hrs and lasted for about four hours.“It been cut out ….some of the injectors block up so the fuel can’t circulate.”When he did eventually get the engine started, the batteries failed, causing a further delay.“The battery run down cause was old batteries…we had to wait for the battery to charge back up.”A still traumatized Chris Narine who was one of the rescued crew membersAccording to Kisten, when the vessel left Buck Hall to head into the North West Region and was passing the Hogg Island area, the boat and barge ran aground on a sand bank at about 15:00hrs on Tuesday afternoon and as such they had to wait for several hours before the tide rose again, allowing it to move.He said that on Wednesday morning, when they were able to move, the anchor was retrieved and they headed to the Parika area where the vessel again ran aground.Kisten explained that the journey to Parika was to collect an additional pump to be transported to Port Kaituma.“We start the main engine, collect the pump and start going out to North West.”The engineer said that at about 17:00hrs that day,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, he went into the engine room and pumped out the water which was accumulating in the vessel. However, by the time he returned some two hours later to restart the pumping process it failed.Kisten said that he was unable to get the pump restarted,Chelsea Jersey, “and the water just beating in beating in.”He said that the water started to quickly rise in the hull of the vessel and he managed to erect a makeshift system to get the water out, but this did not hold up for long and eventually the engine started to develop problems.According to Kisten, several parts of the hull of the vessel were patched with cement.Kisten said that the cooler on the engine was the first to go and subsequently it developed problems with circulating the oil and fuel and the “engine head cracked.”He said that after the engine head cracked, “and the water keep coming in, the engine shut down….after the engine shut down dem ain’t had nutten we coulda do so we drop the anchor.”The engineer said that they retrieved the pump from the barge and attempted to empty the tug with that pump but this too failed.He said that in the process,Cheap Stitched Jerseys, the barge had been pulled closer to the tug. The rains and the rough sea caused the barge to slam into the tug and ‘punch holes’ in it.“The pump start and it pull lil bit but it ain’t pump out the water….it wukking but it nah pull the water no more and the water keep coming in pun the side and the pontoon keep punching up the ship.”Missing: Julian GarrawayHe said that the situation reached a point where one of the ropes attached to the pontoons snapped and destroyed the sheds on the tug.The pontoon was subsequently released from the tug as it was damaging the vessel but by this time the tug had started to sink from its stern.All of the crew members were on the vessel at the time and were advised by the captain that there was nothing more that they could do and some of the crew members started to abandon the vessel and seek refuge in the deadly waters.“All wha the captain say is ‘boys we deh under water here and we can’t do nothing…all yuh better take care of ya’ll selves.” Kisten said the crew members started to jump over board.He said that there were six ‘life rings’ on the vessel and no life jackets and as such persons had to share the rings in the treacherous waters.The lad said that he later observed what he believed to be two persons holding onto one of the life rings and at the time they had a torchlight but this light soon disappeared beneath the waters and he has not seen the men since.By this time all of the crew members started to jump over board in an attempt to make it to the pontoon but only the five that were rescued made it to the vessel with the remainder drifting away, with some clinging to the life rings.He said that Captain Vanslutyman,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, however, decided to take a different course of action when he decided to abandon his vessel.Rather than seek to secure a life preserver, the captain reportedly retrieved a haversack with some $3M. He reportedly secured it to his back before making his plunge.The $3M is said to be payment for transporting the mining equipment to the North West destination.He has not been seen since.The young Kisten said that they waited for several hours on the pontoon and watched helplessly as they tried to signal some of the many vessels that passed, but none rendered assistance.He said that it had reached a point where he had almost given up on life and wanted to commit suicide by taking a deadly plunge but the others on the pontoon with him managed to convince him to hold fast.Kisten said that they eventually managed to flag down a passing trawler which rescued them some eight hours later. By this time word had circulated of the disaster and a maritime speedboat transported them to Supenaam.The barge has since been towed into the Pomeroon River as the crew and family members await word about the missing.While the young man said that he was informed that the vessel was on sea sometime last year, there are no recent official records of the vessel being seaworthy.
