Body of East Coast youth recovered at Richmond Hill Blue Lake

The body of 25 year-old Eusi Kemo Lindo of Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, was late Friday evening recovered from the Richmond Hill Blue Lake area, Commander of Region 10, Hugh Winter confirmed. The body was recovered by friends and family who continued a search party, after he was feared drowned on Thursday evening.

While the Police press release had initially stated that the incident occurred in the Kara Kara Blue Lake, it was subsequently confirmed that the incident occurred at the Richmond Hill blue lake. According to the report, Lindo and a group of friends visited the tourism spot in Linden when they began to swim. The water was at shoulder height. “ Suddenly I heard the water splashing loud and when I looked around, i saw Eusi splashing up the water and I thought he was playing,” the girlfriend told police .She however managed to swim to shore and when she looked back , ” Eusi pushed up his hands one time, went down in the water and never came up.”

Recently, the Linden blue lakes have become an attractive tourists destination and has seen an influx of many visitors. Following the incident on Thursday, several persons took to social media to express their concern about persons swimming in the waters because it is not safe and chemical filled. Chemical Engineer Deon Anderson, who is also the founder of Elite Kayaking and Nature Tours; a recognized tour company that organizes tours with professional tour guides and life guards, said the issue of safety should not be about the water being filled with hazardous chemicals and suck sand but about persons visiting unsupervised and swimming without life jackets, since the waters are very deep. “As a Chemical Engineer specialised in water quality, and general environmental aspects of water and effluent as a whole, I would like to say emphatically that there is absolutely no trace of hazardous chemicals in these lakes. Samples have been routinely tested both locally and overseas for mercury, arsenic, cadmium, lead, e.coli, total coliforms among other physiochemical water quality parameters. They have all complied with the standards and guidelines set by the World health standards for recreational waters,” Anderson said in a statement.

He urged persons visiting these lakes to desist from doing so unsupervised. “What is dangerous is swimming in deep waters without a life jacket. We need to desist from swimming without life jackets in deep waters. Its like driving on a high speed highway without a seatbelt, horn or trafficator. Lets put safety first,…….if persons visit, let them do so with an experienced tour guide,” he said.