radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Another body, believed to be one of the missing Guayaguayare fishermen, has been discovered off the coast of Moruga.
So said the head of the Hunters Search and Rescue Team Captain Vallence Rambharat who said the body is in an advanced state of decomposition and is unrecognisable.
Given the level of deterioration, Rambharat said it could be one of the fishermen who went missing while fishing off Guayaguayare on January 31.
Guardian Media was reliably informed that a fisherman named Jairaj Jairam saw the body at about 10 am and called a relative in Mayaro.
He provided the coordinates to Rambharat who sent it to the T&T Coast Guard. Officers later found the body and brought it to shore.
Late yesterday, Rambharat said one of the relatives of Heeralal Kooblal viewed the body and did not identify it as his father. Photographs of the corpse were shared with other relatives last night to assist with identification.
Rambharat said the body was 85 per cent decomposed and was unlikely to have been in the water for the past two weeks.
Andy Tallman George, Captain George Otis and Heeralal “Linus” Kooblal, 54, from Grand Lagoon, Mayaro, remain missing.
The body of Rishi Khemchan, the fourth fisherman was found entangled in the thick underbrush of the mangroves at Cocuina, North Venezuela. His family was expected to journey to Venezuela to identify the body.
The four men left Seawall Guayaguayare on board the newly repaired Benom 2, registered TFN 5906. It was supposed to be a two-day trip but when the men did not return on February 2, their families lodged a report.
On February 5, the boat was found capsized off the coast of Cedros. All four fishermen are now presumed dead.
