Teen fishermen missing at sea

A MAYARO woman is praying for the safe return of her two teenaged sons who have been missing since going out on a fishing expedition on Wednesday night. Shine Lall, is holding onto the belief that her sons Jesse, 18, and Jason, 16, are still alive and will return home. “It is really hard to put into words how I feel, but I am not giving up hope,” the mother of six told Sunday Newsday yesterday. The young fishermen are the sons of a lifeguard, John Lall, who works along the Mayaro beach. 

The Coast Guard base at Galeota has launched several patrols in search of the boys who left on board the pirogue “Bravo”. Mayaro fishermen have joined the search for the missing teenagers. The worried mother said her sons left their home at Lewis and Sucre Streets on Wednesday afternoon to go fishing at Guayaguayare. Lall said her sons,  past students of Mayaro Composite School, earn their living by fishing. “Jesse is accustomed going out to sea nearly five days a week, but only recently Jason started going out with him,” she said. It is normal for them to go out alone on overnight fishing trips, so I was expecting to see them come home by around 9 o’clock Thursday morning.”

Lall said she was told her sons’ fishing boat was one of several that went missing Thursday morning. However, all the other boats eventually came to shore by midday. The fishermen who experienced difficulties getting to shore blamed strong undersea currents which pulled their vessels further out to sea, causing them to journey longer and use more fuel to get to land. The worried mother suspects her sons’ boat may have run out of fuel. “They carried just over three gallons of water and food enough for the overnight trip. I don’t want to imagine what is happening with them now,” she said. Lall, whose other children are twin five-year-old boys and two girls aged 21 and 14, said her family has not slept or eaten properly since the boys went missing.  “I gave up cooking, because no one is eating anyway. We are having sleepless nights. My husband and I are very close to our sons. This is hitting him very hard. He is really stressed out.” Jesse celebrated his 18th birthday last Sunday.