Two feared dead, 3 hospitalised in Navet boating accident

Two men are feared dead and three others are hospitalised after a small boat carrying 13 people capsized at the Navet Reservoir yesterday. Up to late yesterday evening Coast Guard drivers were still combing the water at the Tabaquite reservoir for the two men. Police said the men were identified as Basdeo Ramlal, a Tabaquite resident, and Anthony Warrick, an employee with Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA).

Warrick worked at the reservoir and both he and his wife were in the boat, police said. Sunday Guardian was told that the boat began taking in water and then overturned. The reservoir has a depth of 44 feet and storage capacity of 4.2 billion gallons. A release sent by WASA’s Corporate Communications manager, Ellen Lewis, stated that initial reports suggested that 13 people, two of whom were WASA employees, were on the boat around 11 am when it overturned.

Lewis said WASA would be providing counselling and other forms of support to the relatives of those involved and they will be kept abreast of the situation. The three people who are warded at the San Fernando General Hospital are said to be in stable condition. The release stated that the boat in the expedition was a single-engine vessel usually used by authorised personnel to conduct depth samples and for routine maintenance of the dam.

The Navet Dam is one of the major reservoirs supplying potable water in T&T.