Three more bodies found in ill-fated MV Fair Chance

COMMUNITIES in the Southern Grenadines were further wounded on Easter Monday, April 18 as news broke that three more bodies were found in the ill fated St Vincent and the Grenadines registered vessel, the MV Fair Chance.

The vessel, which was transporting cargo from Trinidad to Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), capsized in rough waters off Trinidad on April 2. There were seven men on board.

Two crew members, Darrol Small of Union Island and Johnell Mc Intosh of Grenada were rescued.

On April 7, the body of another crew member, Owen Baptiste was found in the boat.

Then on Easter Monday, Coast Guard and police in Trinidad found the bodies of three other crew members on the boat which was captained by Union Island resident, Dexter ‘Gary’ Chance.

Speaking on the NDP New Times radio programme on Tuesday April 19, Member of Parliament for the Southern Grenadines, Terrance Ollivierre spoke of the “agony and suffering” that family members of the crew have been enduring since the incident on April 2.

He said on Tuesday, that the body of the boat’s captain had not yet been recovered.

“Why did it take so long for a recovery, why couldn’t they be rescued?” Ollivierre asked tearfully.

The Area Representative, who revealed being “heartbroken” by the tragedy, said the painful issue is the “length of time” it has taken to recover the bodies.

He does not believe that much effort was made to rescue the crew immediately after the boat capsized.

“Why it took so long for a recovery? Ollivierre further questioned.

And he wondered out loud how family members will be able to deal with the knowledge that their loved ones were trapped in the boat for 16 days.

“It is troubling, it is heartbreaking. This took far too long for us to reach at this point.”

Ollivierre said families of the then missing men had been holding out hope earlier, but now that hope has faded “and there is no chance anymore.”

He said he saw some photographs of the incident and his heart “just crushed.”

He pointed out that those who lost their lives were people with whom persons in the Southern Grenadines were very familiar.

“This is very hard to take. Remember it is somebody’s husband, somebody’s father, somebody’s son, somebody’s brother,” Ollivierre noted.

“Some of them were the providers for their families.”

“This one is tough, very tough, it is hard to deal with,” Ollivierre lamented.

The bodies found on Easter Monday are believed to be those of Owen Prescott, Eric Calliste and Devon Celestine.

The Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard in a release issued on April, 18 outlined the steps that were taken to first seek to rescue, then recover the occupants of the Fair Chance.

The release said that after the April 2 incident they attempted to take the MV Fair Chance in tow but “due to its size and tonnage all attempts were unsuccessful.” The Coast Guard remained beside the vessel despite it drifting into waters off Venezuela “in the hope that other survivors could be found.”

They said that a commercial tug joined with the efforts of the Coast Guard on April 3, allowing for the vessel to be towed to the Chaguaramas area by April 5.

“Attempts were made that day to make the site safe for diving operations to commence, however, that night, the Fair Chance sank to the seabed,” the Coast Guard said.

Following this there were urgent attempts to send divers in but the attempts were unsuccessful because the hatches and doorways were blocked by debris and “large amounts of cargo”.

Commercial divers hired by the agent of the Fair Chance joined the operations but “the debris proved too much for them as well.”

The extraction of debris “piece by piece” was the next move, that resulted in the discovery of the first body.

In the ensuing days a commercial salvage company was hired to assist with cutting a hole in the deck of the Fair Chance so that access could be gained. The hole was cut but neither the divers from the Coast Guard nor the commercial company “…could force their way in through the cargo and debris that blocked access to the accommodation areas of the vessel,” the Coast Guard stated.

After this the conclusion was taken that the only way to get through the blockage was to raise the Fair Chance, and therein began the lengthy process that concluded on Sunday, April 17 and resulted in the recovery of the three bodies on April 18. One body, believed to be that of the boat’s catain, had still not been recoved up to the time of going to press.