More anguish as mother of fisherman killed at sea could not witness burial

The anguish for the mother of 20-year-old Lamar Petrie, who was killed at sea, multiplied on Tuesday as she was not able to witness his burial.

The mother, Onika Simon, said her son was buried before she could get to the site. The mother related that the burial took place just after the post-mortem and so she could not “send him off.”

Simon said she would have liked to conduct a religious service for her eldest child. Not even a prayer was offered before her child’s remains were placed in the ground.

She explained that a pastor showed up at the ground but left after the body took several hours to reach the Stanleytown cemetery in New Amsterdam.

Simon is also calling on the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force to have regular marine patrols to protect the lives of fishermen.

The partially decomposed body of Petrie was discovered along the Abary foreshore on Sunday.

He was positively identified by his mother; she knew it was her son from the tattoo of a skull on his arm and the shirt he left home with on October 5.

“He was a good child…he was a sweet boy…he didn’t have a wife or child. He didn’t even start life yet,” Simon told the News Room.

Lamar was with three other fishermen who departed the private wharf at Number 65 Village.

The News Room was informed the crew docked at a wharf in Nickerie, Suriname and then left for sea but was not seen or heard from until the fishing vessel – the SARA 1 – washed up at the Cromarty foreshore on Friday last.

The boat was found with the crew belongings and blood on a section of the seine. Thus far, the body of Kawal Kissoon called “Ajay” has also been recovered while two remaining missing.

The families of the missing men – Marvin Tamessar called “Buddy” and boat Captain Vishnu Seeram called “Kevin” – continue their desperate search.

On Tuesday a party of seventeen persons, in the company of an armed Policeman combed the Number 57-60 area.

A family member told the News Room on Wednesday that the search was moved to Region Five.