As investigations continue into an explosion aboard a coastal fuel tanker in Guyana which left three people dead, police say maintenance work was not being conducted at the time of the incident.
The tanker was at a wharf at Friendship, East Bank Demerara while gasoline was being pumped out of the vessel into plastic bottles.
“It appears that the deceased were pumping gasoline from the sediment or reserve of the fuel tank,” police said in a statement.
The police have identified those killed as 60-year old Seepersaud Persaud, a boat captain, Mark Mangal and 29-year old Damion Dias, a sailor.
The authorities said that the bodies were discovered after the fire had been extinguished.
The police said that they found what seemed to be yellow bottles of gasoline in the captain’s car trunk.
“As a result checks were made in the boat captain’s motorcar…which revealed 5 six gallon bottles and one 5 gallon bottle with suspected gasoline which were found in the trunk of the said motorcar,” the police said, adding that investigators have taken samples of the contents.
