Church youth drowns in pond

A DAY away from the Carnival merry-making turned tragic for the Calvary Tabernacle Church of Princes Town, when one of its members drowned in a pond. Ross Bachoo, of Broomage Road, was among 160 members of the church who had gone on an outing at the home of his uncle, Peter Ousman. Every year the church organises alternative activities for its members. Tuesday’s outing was held at Ousman’s home, next to which is a paw paw plantation at Inverness Road, Princes Town. In the immediate vicinity is a 14-foot-deep pond.

According to a police report, Devon Ousman took friends Bachoo, Gerard Lalchan and Riaz for a ride in a pirogue. Devon told Newsday that he circled  the pond a few times, after which Bachoo and Riaz jumped out. While they swam in the pond, Devon plied the pirogue around, and Lalchan then dived into the water. Lalchan, Riaz and Bachoo swam around the pond, but the latter suddenly disappeared. “We all dived into the pond looking for him but we could not find him anywhere,” Devon told Newsday. Relatives who at the time were fishing in the pond, threw a ground net into the water. The body was fished out shortly afterwards.

“He stayed about a half-an-hour in the water. Paramedics performed CPR and rushed him to the hospital,” Devon said. Bachoo was pronounced dead on arrival at the Princes Town District Health Facility. When Newsday visited Bachoo’s home yesterday, his mother, Zenora, was too distraught to speak about the incident. Bachoo’s aunt, Zaida Annie Khan, said they believed that he may have suffered a cramp in the water. “We are not sure what happened, but we know he did not get stuck in the mud,”  Khan said. She described Bachoo as a fun-loving person, who preferred church outings to Carnival.