JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Search still on for missing seabather

by

20140421

To­day marks ten days since Pe­nal fa­ther of two Alex Sookhoo went miss­ing while bathing at Colum­bus Bay, Ce­dros.His rel­a­tives re­main hope­ful that the body of the 28-year-old bus dri­ver of Lowkie Trace would sur­face soon so they could get clo­sure and set his soul free.Yes­ter­day Sookhoo's fa­ther Nan­deo, speak­ing with the T&T Guardian in a brief tele­phone in­ter­view, said the fam­i­ly had been con­duct­ing prayers and mak­ing of­fer­ings to Moth­er Gan­ga (Hin­du de­ity of the sea) to re­lease Sookhoo's body so they could per­form his fi­nal rites.Nan­deo said it had been a very trau­mat­ic and dif­fi­cult ten days for the fam­i­ly and they just want­ed to have some mea­sure of clo­sure.

He said they were hop­ing that the body would wash ashore."Every­body is still in a sad state, there is noth­ing we can do. We are in a bit of a help­less state right now. We did a cer­tain amount of per­son­al rit­u­als and we had a prayer cer­e­mo­ny near the ocean, Moth­er Gan­ga is a liv­ing be­ing you know, and we had to give her wor­ship to re­lease the body. We have done that and we are hop­ing that with the help of hu­mans and God, God in­spires man and woman to do some­thing, (that some­thing will hap­pen). We are go­ing by faith right now," he said.Sookhoo was last seen alive around 2.45 pm on April 13. He dived off a rock at Colum­bus Bay and did not resur­face. Nan­deo said Sookhoo's moth­er was not tak­ing the en­tire sit­u­a­tion well."You know how dif­fi­cult it is for nine days to know some­one drown and is still out there," he lament­ed.

Nan­deo ap­pealed to the au­thor­i­ties to put up signs warn­ing bathers about the dan­gers of bathing at Colum­bus bay. He said he went to the beach over the East­er week­end and many peo­ple were on the beach. He said there were no life guards on the beach in case of emer­gency and "that is a pop­u­lar beach­ing area."He said the fam­i­ly re­ceived spir­i­tu­al guid­ance and they were told that Sookhoo's body was trapped un­der the wa­ter and on­ly deep sea divers would be able to re­trieve it. Nan­deo said the fam­i­ly was giv­en the lo­ca­tion of the body and he would make con­tact with the Coast Guard to get divers to search that area.Yes­ter­day Lieu­tenant Kirk Jean Bap­tiste, T&T Coast Guard, said since the sec­ond day divers have been go­ing un­der­wa­ter in search of Sookhoo's body with "neg­a­tive sight­ings."Dives, he ex­plained, are done based on cur­rents, their speed and flow."Some­times the strength of the cur­rent pre­vents the body from re­cov­ery. The cur­rent could keep the body down," he said.

Jean Bap­tiste said the search for Sookhoo was one of re­cov­ery rather than res­cue.He urged bathers to ex­er­cise ex­treme cau­tion in wa­ters around the coun­try since cli­mate change is­sues were af­fect­ing the beach ar­eas."Peo­ple need to ex­er­cise ex­treme cau­tion and prac­tice prop­er safe­ty in util­is­ing our wa­ters and riv­er ways as a means of en­ter­tain­ment and fun. The Coast Guard un­der­stands the emo­tion­al pain and trau­ma in los­ing loved ones in a mar­itime en­vi­ron­ment, hav­ing lost some of our own in con­duct­ing res­cue ef­forts. Hence the rea­son we do not take mat­ters, per­sons miss­ing in mar­itime en­vi­ron­ment, light­ly," he added.PC Ho­sein, of the Ce­dros Po­lice Sta­tion, is con­tin­u­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Father Anthony Abraham, centre, alongside Jesus Explosion coordinator Leslie Taylor-Gouveia, left, Kerry Ragoobarsingh and Father Ian Taylor, right, pray over the congregation during Jesus Explosion 23 at the Cheryl F Greaves Auditorium, Bishop Anstey High School East, Trincity, on July 19.

Jesus Explosion 23: Visiting priest feeds RC faithful

23 hours ago
Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, right, presents Israel Khan, SC, with the Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League Street Recognition Award while Rajah congratulates him during a ceremony at the St Augustine South Recreation Ground two Sundays ago.

Courtesy Aneal Rajah Windball Cricket League

Israel Khan honoured by community cricket league

23 hours ago
SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa chairman Eudaine Garcia meets Guyana President Irfaan Ali

SSCasa steps up Caricom collaboration after summit

Yesterday
Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

Then acting Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Barry Padarath, right, toasts with Argentina Ambassador Gustavo Martinez Pandiani during the Argentine National Day function at the Renassaince Club Room, The Renaissance at Shorelands, on July 9.

ANISTO ALVES

Argentina wants to export world-famous beef to T&T

Yesterday