Two schoolgirls drown

TWO TEENAGED girls, drowned at Morne Diablo beach yesterday as one desperately tried to save the other’s life. Nikela Rogers’ boyfriend brought her to safety on a rock amidst the choppy waters, but she dived back in to save her school mate, Rafi Fermin. The choppy waters quickly swallowed the girls’ bodies, and up to late evening they could not be found. Within moments of the incident, fishermen braved the rough sea with their boats, and swam out in search of the girls. One fisherman explained that the rising tide generated strong currents that would push the bodies towards the south-western coastline, near the Quinam beach some five to ten miles away. Another fisherman, Andrew Karim, added that the water was very rough yesterday, and many fishermen refused to go out with their boats. “This morning the water was ‘big’, it was choppy and we couldn’t not even go out. So I don’t know how those girls were bathing there”,  Karim said. 

The Penal Police said they had called in the Coast Guard, stationed at Cedros, to assist in combing the waters. Only last week, Rogers and Fermin, both 16-year-olds, entered Form Five at Siparia Senior Comprehensive School. On Friday, Fermin, of Pierre Avenue, Robert Hill, Siparia, came to Morne Diablo to spend the weekend with Rogers, who lives with her grandmother, Clementina. Clementina aged, 72,  said that around 2.30 pm someone from the beach came with the tragic news. Clementina recalled when the girls left the house: “They left here about 7.30 am. I told  Nikela that she was suppose to meet her father 4 o’clock, and she told me that she had plenty time and she still going on the beach”. The teen’s mother resides in the United States, while her father lives in Belmont. Rogers’ cousin, Lisa, told Sunday Newsday that the girls and Rogers’ boyfriend, Ryan Macknish, 19, were swimming in an area which is not frequented by bathers because of the rocks and sand pits. Lisa said: “We heard Ryan saved Nikela and put her on the rocks and went back for Rafi. But then Nikela panicked and dived back in the water to help save her friend and she went down too”. Rogers’ relatives said the girls did not know how to swim. Investigations are continuing.