When seven-year-old Angelica Jogie took her last breath after being struck by a rogue jet ski at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park last Wednesday, she became the latest in a sizeable list of deaths and injuries as a result of watercraft incidents in Trinidad and Tobago.
A near identical incident occurred at the very same beach in 2007 that left a teen victim paralysed.
PARALYSED: This machine, connected to Yanik Quesnel, provides electrical stimulus to his muscles which kicks in as he needs it. Quesnel was run over by a pirogue in 2007.
That was nearly two decades ago in 2007, when a pirogue ploughed through the same waters in Pigeon Point, running over then 17-year-olds Yanik Quesnel and his girlfriend, Spanish national Ana Carolina Barry-Laso, who were in Tobago on vacation.
Quesnel was left paralysed in the aftermath, prompting a years-long legal action that sought to hold the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) accountable for the safety of beachgoers.
That legal action succeeded in 2010, with Justice Judith Jones noting a “danger presented to persons” using the Park’s waters for sea bathing, which according to the judgment delivered, was a known danger to the THA and The Pigeon Point Heritage Park Ltd, (‘the Company’) which manages and controls facilities at the park.
“The failure by the THA to take steps to prevent boats and other water craft from coming so close to the shore as to pose a risk of damage to sea-bathers and the failure of both the THA and the Company to erect warning signs on the beach and/or in the Park in close proximity to the beach is in my opinion a breach of the duty of care owed to the Claimants as visitors to the Park and users of the adjacent water for the purpose of sea-bathing,” the judgment stated.
The judge also found that the teenagers had used reasonable care for their own safety and were entitled to expect that the THA and Company would use reasonable care to prevent injury.
“In failing to erect warning signs or to prevent boats accessing the adjacent water the THA and the Company breached the duty of care that they both owed to the Claimants and as a result of those breaches the Claimants suffered injury,” it said.
As he spoke during a broadcast news conference last Wednesday night, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine referred to the case, noting that the assembly had been found liable.
“It just shows that when people do not follow rules, it ends up in tragedy,” he said.
By June 2011, the THA had banned the use of all watercraft in Store Bay and Buccoo in Tobago. Then-environment secretary Hilton Sandy said this had been done to deal with errant users of the water, and that only jet skis from the Tourism Division for rescue activities would be permitted.
Previous incidents
Watercraft incidents throughout the nation’s coastal areas have since persisted.
• In 2010, Andell Roberts, of Mt Pleasant, Tobago, died at hospital after operating his jet ski. Police were told that Roberts had been found unconscious after attempting a stunt on the watercraft.
• In 2012, American citizens Racquel Welch, 40, her daughter Paige Welch, 13, and their, relative Lance Aqui, were badly injured at Scotland Bay in Chaguaramas when a pirogue associated with the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment ploughed into the kayak they were using, splitting it in two.
Paige Welch’s left arm was almost severed in the incident. Her relatives were also hospitalised.
• That year, 17-year-old Angel Superville died after being involved in a jet ski accident in the vicinity of Scotland Bay. He reportedly collided with a tow-rope between a boat and dinghy. It was his first time riding a jet ski. The force of the impact flung the still conscious youth, who was wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident, into the water.
• In June 2014, 26-year-old Sheriza Ramdath was killed and her brother seriously injured in a jet ski mishap at the Spring Bridge in Moruga. Police said Ramdath was steering the watercraft when she lost control and crashed into the mangrove, dying at the scene. Her brother suffered injuries to the head and face.
• In 2018, Tobago primary school student Shem Murray died at Pigeon Point beach, when the ski hit a coral structure below the water, thrusting him out of the vehicle. He was first taken to the Scarborough General Hospital and later transferred to Trinidad for treatment. He was placed on life support but died two days later.
• That year, Erin fisherman Sheldon Guerra, 35, died off Los Iros after the fishing boat he was sharing with four other men was broadsided by another vessel and all were thrown overboard. Police were told one of the vessels had stopped and anchored at sea for the fishermen to retrieve a fishing net. While pulling up the net, another boat crashed into them in the darkness. The fishing boats overturned.
• In October 2022, a lifeguard had to seek medical attention after he was struck by a fishing boat while swimming in the waters off Maracas Bay. The lifeguard was swimming when the fishing vessel manoeuvred near him, striking his head.
• In 2023 21-year-old Mathias Jerry went missing after an accident on a jet ski near No Man’s Land, Tobago. His body was later found submerged in the water.
Gap in regulations
TRINIDAD and Tobago has not legislated any required licensing, training or preparation for operators of watercraft or those who rent small vessels to civilians, say stakeholders.
‘It is horrible what happened. No experienced rider, we do not ride like that. Once I heard Tobago, we felt it had to be someone who was inexperienced and lost control,’ president of T&T Jet Ski Racing Federation Selwyn Richard Persad told the Sunday Express yesterday in the wake of the death of sevenyear- old Angelica Jogie in a jet ski incident at Pigeon Point.
Persad said the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure’s Marine Division had long been upgrading requirements for PWCD (personal watercraft drivers), attempting to mandate licences for both operators and rental companies. However, he said this was not yet established policy. By international standards, he said PWCDs are supposed to slow down and exercise caution, placing the vehicle on idle when entering a certain range of public beaches.
‘You cannot just speed in. This is the international protocol. There are no laws in Trinidad yet, but this is what they are putting in place. They compiled all the proposals they wanted to put in place, and we were invited as a part of the meetings they had, and we did support everything they wanted to put in place, especially the licence,’ he said.
Persad added most private PWCDs are persons with experience who act responsibly. However, he said a set policy would place responsibility on rental companies.
FFOS corporate secretary: Gary Aboud
Corporate secretary of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea Gary Aboud last week referred to Jogie’s death as a murder, saying he had long advocated for updated legislation to ensure safety within the nation’s waterways. He said the country has some of the oldest marine legislation in the world, adding that no policy or licence to operate any moving vessel on the ocean currently exists.
‘Anybody could drive any vessel on the sea, anywhere, any speed, anyhow. There is no training, no one is checking. So, if a three-year-old runs in his father’s boat and runs it through Scotland Bay and kills 50 people, you cannot say the parent is responsible for the child’s unauthorised use of the vessel. It is reckless beyond civilised conduct,’ he told the Sunday Express yesterday. ‘We have a calling and responsibility to ensure that legislation is appropriate, modernised and relevant, and it is worse than that…Instead of gallivanting and politicking on social media, what are we doing?…’
