Lead Editor - Newsgathering
The man seen on CCTV footage being washed away in a flood-swollen drain on Monday evening was found dead yesterday, almost four kilometres from where he was last seen alive.
After an hours-long search, the Hunters’ Search and Rescue Team found the man’s body tangled in some bushes in the river behind Printeryville Road, just off O’Meara Road, near the Consolidated Biscuit (T’Dad) Ltd factory.
In fact, members of the T&T Police Service, DMO and undertakers had to pass through residents’ homes to get to the river to remove the body.
Speaking afterwards, the hunters from the search team said the terrain wasn’t easy.
“We experienced rough terrain where there were some constrictions and some deep spots where we had to pass through waist-high water. We had to go through some big grass but this is our thing, this is what we do,” said Ronnie Singh, who was part of the search party who found the body.
“The most important thing is bringing closure to the family and the loved ones so they can find the body and move on,” added Johnny Maharaj, who co-ordinated the search.
The conditions in the drain were created after rains fell for approximately three hours in east Trinidad on Monday.
The ordeal started on Monday afternoon on the corner of Carracciolo Avenue and Ameerali Avenue in Malabar.
A resident’s security cameras captured the horrifying last moments of the victim. The video circulating on social media showed the man reaching for the protective railing in a desperate bid to save himself as he was washed down the drain.
The head of the Atherton family was driving in a white van and stopped to render assistance on seeing the situation. However, by the time he got to the drain, the man had disappeared underwater and didn’t resurface.
The family, said to be residents of the area, recalled they heard his head hit the concrete as they sought to assist him and from there they feared the worst.
Once the video hit social media, Arima Central councillor Sheldon “Fish” Garcia and a team of volunteers started a search. From 6 pm Monday, they scoured the drains in the area, still filled with water. By 10 pm they called off their search, vowing to start again yesterday morning. D’Abadie/O’Meara MP Lisa Morris-Julian called in the Hunter’s Search and Rescue team, along with the TTPS and the disaster management unit from the ODPM, who all resumed the search around 9 am yesterday.
Arima MP Pennelope Beckles also checked in on the rescue efforts at one point.
The body, which is yet to be identified, was found at 12.45 pm.
Councillor Garcia said up to late last night no one had come forward to report a missing person or identify the body. It’s believed the victim is a homeless man but officials will now have to determine his identity.
“People were speculating, because there’s a vagrant who sleeps under the bridge up on Carib Avenue but up to last night (Monday) he was seen walking the road,” Garcia said.
MP Morris-Julian thanked the teams who took part in the search, including the family who tried to pull the victim from the drain. She called on those in need to seek a safe place to shelter.
“This is very tragic. I just want to urge persons who may be in similar situation to reach out to provide shelters at least during the rainy season,” she said.
“My heart goes out to the Atherton family who tried to help.”
This is the third person in just over a year to die in floodwaters.
In August 2022, Theresa Lynch, 44, was swept away in waters in Lopinot. Earlier that month, Annan Boysie, 40, died when his van was pushed off the road and into a river which flows alongside the M1 Ring Road in Ste Madeleine.