Sluice attendant crushed to death by boulder

A 54-year-old sluice attendant tragically died after he was crushed at the Farm/Woodlands Sluice on the East Coast of Demerara.

Dead is Leevorn Stanford McGarrel, also known as “Shortman” or “Hacket” of High Dam, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.

Police Headquarters reported that the incident occurred between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

McGarrel’s son-in-law, Llavar Welch, reported that both he and McGarrel worked at the same sluice but on different shifts. McGarrel began his shift at 18:00 hrs on Wednesday. The next morning, at around 06:40 hrs, Welch arrived for his shift and discovered McGarrel’s body under the sluice counterweight, a 3-ton boulder.

The body, showing ‘visible crush injuries’, was taken to the Mahaicony Hospital, where McGarrel was pronounced dead.