radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
There were still no signs of missing Mayaro toddler Allon Ramdial yesterday, even though more people joined the search both in and around the Ortoire River, where he was last seen.
At the crack of dawn yesterday, eight members of West General maintenance, a private Mayaro-based company led by Westley Mohammed, joined the search teams. They combed the mouth of the Ortoire River as well as areas in the Atlantic Ocean.
But up to late yesterday, the three-year-old boy was still missing.
In an exclusive interview with Guardian Media, Mohammed said he decided to join the search because he had the equipment and manpower to assist.
“The whole community of Mayaro is crying out for this child. He was so well known. Whenever we dock at the facility, he used to come and give everyone a bounce. He was a friendly child. Going forward as of today (yesterday), we will be searching throughout the day and the night to find this child,” Mohammed vowed.
He also called for a streamlined social intervention in the Mayaro constituency, which, he said, is plagued by high poverty, unemployment and illiteracy.
“This is a community tragedy. I am from Guayaguayare and I can tell you that we have a lot of children who are suffering in this area,” he added.
Mohammed said a social welfare office should be set up in Mayaro and teams should be going from house to house to assess the needs of impoverished families.
Last night, Allon’s mother, Christianna Ramdial, said she was beginning to lose hope.
On Saturday, a relative took Ramdial into their home and allowed her and her common-law husband Carl Murphy temporary lodging.
Ramdial had spent most of Saturday gazing out into the river and walking along the Ortoire Main Road with tears streaming down her face, waiting for Allon.
She said she no longer wanted to go back to the cramped, unventilated room of the Ortoire Fishing Depot where they had been sleeping for the past two years.
“That was where he has his little blanket, his clothes, his broken toys. I can’t take it to go there,” she cried.
Allon was just seven months when she and her common-law husband moved into the unopened fishing facility. They had no other place to go and although Murphy was not Allon’s biological father, he worked hard at sea to buy milk, pampers and food for his family.
Initially, the family stayed in an air-conditioned room to the front but when the electricity supply was cut, they moved into a room at the back of the facility.
“Mosquitoes was biting up my child in the front room and that’s why I took him to the back. But it look like it was better if I had stayed up in front,” she wept.
Captain Vallence Rambharat, from the Hunters Search and Rescue team, told Guardian Media they had completed a search in the mouth of the Ortoire River and the sea without success. He said teams will now focus on combing the river bank and the seashore.
