-by Kyler Rollins

A family is now seeking justice as grief hangs over the home of a 22-year-old engineer from Good Bananen Land, East Canje, Berbice, after his lifeless body was found following reports that a tanker barge he was on as a crew member sank off the coast of Buxton, East Coast Demerara.

The deceased has been identified as Ravindra Bissoondyal, called Videsh.

He was reported missing after a tanker barge sank on Monday while en route from Berbice to Georgetown carrying a shipment of molasses.

According to the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), a distress signal was received at about 01:00 a.m. reporting the sinking of the tanker barge TRADER III and they responded immediately after and launched a search for the missing crew members.

The vessel sank approximately 9.5 nautical miles off the coast of Buxton.

His mother, Mohini Persaud, known by the alias Natasha, told NCN News that she last saw her son on Saturday when he collected his life jacket before departing for the trip on Sunday.

“Before he left he said we leaving now. He called and said that and that was it and all I ask him if he get the food that I send. He said yes. He gon eat it just now and that was the last time I speak to him until the morning he called me back saying that the barge is sinking and they are people on the tug and nobody is responding to the call…When I ask him if he get on he life jacket he said yes. He had on his life jacket,” she emphasised.

A team from MARAD along with support from the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard and the owner of the vessel carried out a search operation.

Relatives and friends also formed a search party; however, their efforts were unsuccessful.

Upon returning to shore, they later received information that Videsh’s lifeless body had been found floating in the Demerara River around midnight on Wednesday.

“We waited and when the body came, the way it look in the water while coming the features of him I didn’t need to look at his face to know it was my son,: she said.

The distraught mother lamented that she is now demanding justice, describing her son as a loving and jolly person who cared for his wife and two-year-old son.

“I would just like to get a little bit justice for my son. I just want to know what happen on that tug that nobody did not respond to the call that he was calling them,” Persaud said. \

Meanwhile, another crew member, 52-year-old Gregory Singh, called Greg, remains missing as a search is ongoing to locate him.