A marine technician on Thursday described a tour boat that exploded during an excursion in the Exumas in 2018 as a "perfect bomb". 

When he testified at the trial of Clayton Patterson Smith and Roderick Watson, Inspector Duane Lewis gave his expert opinion on what might have caused the boat owned by Four C’s Adventures to burst into flames shortly after it left the dock in Barraterre, Exuma, with a group of American tourists on board on June 30, 2018. Smith, the founder of the tour company, and Watson, the captain of the ill-fated vessel, are on trial for manslaughter by negligence in the death of Maleka Jackson. They are also accused of negligently causing harm to Jackson’s widower, Tiran, Stephanie Schaffer, her mother, Stacey Bender, and her stepfather, Paul Bender. Smith is also accused of endangering his passengers by using inferior materials in building the tour boat. They have denied the allegations at their trial before Justice Jeanine Weech-Gomez and a nine-member jury. Lewis, who examined the fire-gutted vessel on the day of the explosion, told the jury that he found multiple areas of concern regarding the boat’s construction. After describing the multiple faults, Lewis said, “It was like a perfect bomb.” According to Lewis, the batteries were directly above the fuel filter at the rear starboard, which in his opinion could have caused a fire. Additionally, he said he saw a vice grip in that vicinity. Lewis deduced that the tool was used for a makeshift repair. Lewis said the fuel tank had a hole on the top, which suggested that a fire-resistant hose hadn’t been used. Based on his experience, Lewis said properly constructed boat hulls had bulkheads to contain any fuel spills. However, he said there was no bulkhead on the tour boat. Lewis said the fuel tank lacked a firewall. He said that fuel-tank also appeared to be “homemade”. Lewis said store-bought fuel tanks were tested to ensure that they met industry standards. He also criticized the lack of fire protecting conduits in the boat’s wiring. Since the boat was made of aluminum, Lewis said either PVC or foam could have been used as conduits. He will continue his testimony next week. Murrio Ducille, KC, represents the accused and Raquel Whyms is the prosecutor.

When he testified at the trial of Clayton Patterson Smith and Roderick Watson, Inspector Duane Lewis gave his expert opinion on what might have caused the boat owned by Four C’s Adventures to burst into flames shortly after it left the dock in Barraterre, Exuma, with a group of American tourists on board on June 30, 2018.

Smith, the founder of the tour company, and Watson, the captain of the ill-fated vessel, are on trial for manslaughter by negligence in the death of Maleka Jackson.

They are also accused of negligently causing harm to Jackson’s widower, Tiran, Stephanie Schaffer, her mother, Stacey Bender, and her stepfather, Paul Bender.

Smith is also accused of endangering his passengers by using inferior materials in building the tour boat.

They have denied the allegations at their trial before Justice Jeanine Weech-Gomez and a nine-member jury.

Lewis, who examined the fire-gutted vessel on the day of the explosion, told the jury that he found multiple areas of concern regarding the boat’s construction.

After describing the multiple faults, Lewis said, “It was like a perfect bomb.”

According to Lewis, the batteries were directly above the fuel filter at the rear starboard, which in his opinion could have caused a fire.

Additionally, he said he saw a vice grip in that vicinity. Lewis deduced that the tool was used for a makeshift repair.

Lewis said the fuel tank had a hole on the top, which suggested that a fire-resistant hose hadn’t been used.

Based on his experience, Lewis said properly constructed boat hulls had bulkheads to contain any fuel spills.

However, he said there was no bulkhead on the tour boat.

Lewis said the fuel tank lacked a firewall. He said that fuel-tank also appeared to be “homemade”.

Lewis said store-bought fuel tanks were tested to ensure that they met industry standards.

He also criticized the lack of fire protecting conduits in the boat’s wiring.

Since the boat was made of aluminum, Lewis said either PVC or foam could have been used as conduits.

He will continue his testimony next week.

Murrio Ducille, KC, represents the accused and Raquel Whyms is the prosecutor.

Yesterday a woman who police officials said was 58, died after being attacked by a bull shark just after 2pm.

The American tourist arrived in the Bahamas on a cruise ship and was with a group or five to seven relatives. They were snorkeling at Green Cay which is close to Rose Island, a small private island of New Providence where Nassau is the capitol.

The American woman's name has not been released by authorities.

The private boat tour operator along with the family members witnessed the attack, they then pulled her from the water and took her by boat to Fort Montagu on Nassau. Officials said the woman had no vital signs after the attack.

Shark feeding and Turtle feeding is common in The Bahamas with more and more tour operators offering these services. Green Cay is just one place tour operators take tourists to feed and snorkel with the turtles, a bull sharks favorite meal.

The grieving father of a teenager who drowned in the Sea Breeze Canal last week said his son was supposed to be playing basketball with friends at the time. Wisly Elias told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that he went on a frantic search for his son when he heard that something was wrong. 

Police said Kennesly Elias, 13, was swimming in the canal with friends when he drowned last Tuesday. Wisly Elias said a friend came to him on Tuesday and told him that something was wrong with his son. “That person didn’t want to tell me the truth,” Elias said. “I said, ‘What happened?’ “He said, ‘I heard your son got hurt.’ “I said, ‘Where?’ “But he said South Beach. I said South Beach? How my son get in South Beach?” Elias said he sped to his son’s mother’s home and asked where the teen was. She told him that Kennesly was playing basketball. Elias said he decided against worrying her about what he had heard. Instead, he drove to the home of the boys his son played with, but they were no help. Then, he drove to South Beach and searched the area, looking for his son. Nothing. He stopped at a police station and asked if there was any report of his son. Nothing. “I went back to the other kids’ families and I saw them,” he said. “I asked them, ‘Where my son?’ “I said, ‘Where my son?’ “Everybody looking into my eyes. They were crying. They kept saying ‘sorry’. “I said, ‘Don’t tell me sorry. I want to know where my son is.’” Elias said he became angry and started shouting. “I said, ‘How am I going to tell his mother where he is? You all don’t want to tell me. Everybody looking in my eye like I’m crazy.’ “Nobody said nothing.” Finally, he headed back to his son’s mother’s home. He eventually told her that he feared their son was dead. He said he saw a man in the yard of the home and said, “I told him, ‘Boy, I can’t hold it no more. I lose my son.’ “The people asked why. I said, ‘My son dead.’” Eventually, Elias said he learned that his son died while swimming in the canal in Sea Breeze. Like brothers Kennesly, a student at C.H. Reeves Junior High School, was headed into Grade 9 this term, his father said. He said the two were close, despite not living together. They texted or called each other nearly every day. “This is my son,” he said. “This is my boy. I have a friend who said my son and I aren’t like father and son, we are like brothers.” Elias is struggling to grapple with such a huge loss. He is not eating and is reluctant to answer his phone or respond to texts because everyone wants to talk about his son, he said. “I’m not going to see him anymore and he’s not coming back,” he said. “That hurt me so hard. He’s my heart.”

Police said Kennesly Elias, 13, was swimming in the canal with friends when he drowned last Tuesday.

Wisly Elias said a friend came to him on Tuesday and told him that something was wrong with his son.

“That person didn’t want to tell me the truth,” Elias said.

“I said, ‘What happened?’

“He said, ‘I heard your son got hurt.’

“I said, ‘Where?’

“But he said South Beach. I said South Beach? How my son get in South Beach?”

Elias said he sped to his son’s mother’s home and asked where the teen was.

She told him that Kennesly was playing basketball.

Elias said he decided against worrying her about what he had heard. Instead, he drove to the home of the boys his son played with, but they were no help.

Then, he drove to South Beach and searched the area, looking for his son.

Nothing.

He stopped at a police station and asked if there was any report of his son.

Nothing.

“I went back to the other kids’ families and I saw them,” he said.

“I asked them, ‘Where my son?’

“I said, ‘Where my son?’

“Everybody looking into my eyes. They were crying. They kept saying ‘sorry’.

“I said, ‘Don’t tell me sorry. I want to know where my son is.’”

Elias said he became angry and started shouting.

“I said, ‘How am I going to tell his mother where he is? You all don’t want to tell me. Everybody looking in my eye like I’m crazy.’

“Nobody said nothing.”

Finally, he headed back to his son’s mother’s home. He eventually told her that he feared their son was dead.

He said he saw a man in the yard of the home and said, “I told him, ‘Boy, I can’t hold it no more. I lose my son.’

“The people asked why. I said, ‘My son dead.’”

Eventually, Elias said he learned that his son died while swimming in the canal in Sea Breeze.

Like brothers

Kennesly, a student at C.H. Reeves Junior High School, was headed into Grade 9 this term, his father said.

He said the two were close, despite not living together. They texted or called each other nearly every day.

“This is my son,” he said. “This is my boy. I have a friend who said my son and I aren’t like father and son, we are like brothers.”

Elias is struggling to grapple with such a huge loss. He is not eating and is reluctant to answer his phone or respond to texts because everyone wants to talk about his son, he said.

“I’m not going to see him anymore and he’s not coming back,” he said.

“That hurt me so hard. He’s my heart.”

A GRIEVING family in Abaco wants the government to better equip the island with the resources needed to treat divers suffering from the bends after their loved one is believed to have died from symptoms associated with the illness last week.

 

Randall Sawyer, 16, of Cherokee Sound died early Friday morning shortly after he was airlifted to New Providence with symptoms linked with decompression sickness or the bends. #The bends is caused by rapid changes in pressure while diving and can prove fatal. # In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Rochelle Sawyer, the deceased teen’s mother, said she believed her son could have survived if the island had had a decompression chamber to treat the bends. #“Abaco is in bad shape for healthcare,” she said in an emotional interview. “If there had been a chamber here, they could have put my child in within an hour, my child would have lived. #“Bends happen all the time.” #According to Mrs Sawyer, her son was an experienced diver who started to feel ill at sea on Thursday while he was out spear fishing with a friend. # “He left that morning about 8.30 to go in the boat as normal spearing fish and when he got back in the boat - and, of course, he was using a compressor - when he got back in the boat, (I was told) that he said he had a headache,” she said. # “It was two of them diving together and they were on the land so they figured they been in the heat all day and needed to eat and drink something because you’re exhausted. # “When he got in, he also told one of his friends that he had a pain in his left arm and so they quickly went to the gas station, and they walked to go get a snack and something to drink before they cleaned their fish like they always do.” # The concerned mother said her son decided to go home after his friends noticed that he did not look well. # But as the teenager prepared to leave he collapsed. # Mrs Sawyer said after being contacted about his condition while at work, she then called the ambulance for help. # She said while Emergency Medical Service workers offered as much assistance as they could, she believed workers at the Marsh Harbour clinic could have responded to the emergency better if they had the proper resources. # She also believed having her son evacuated to Nassau did not help the situation. # “I kept asking them if they checked to see if a (decompression) chamber in The Bahamas is working and because people saying it’s not working and they said it’s working it’s always working,” she said. # “.. and then the plane came in and they decided that they wanted to put my child on a ventilator, so they had to sedate him completely but at all times his vitals had been fine and everyone’s well aware that with the bends, you’re not supposed to fly high,” she said. # “But the minute we got on the plane and the plane started to get airborne, my child’s pressure started to go through the floor and I could see the doctor is getting very nervous but she’s trying to console herself because I’m in front of her.” # The Abaco resident said she started questioning the doctor as any concerned mother would, but said the medical worker tried to reassure her and told her that her son’s symptoms were not uncommon. # After arriving in New Providence, she said her son eventually died. # Recalling her last moments with him, she said: “PMH they tried their best, but then his heart started to stop so he coded like three times and they got his heart started, but then the fourth time when he coded, it was like 4 o’clock and he just was gone.” # When contacted yesterday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville confirmed he was made aware of the case and said an investigation into the matter was ongoing. # He also sent condolences to the family. # As for reports about there being no decompression chambers in country, sources familiar with the situation said that was not true. # The Tribune understands there is at least one decompression chamber located at Doctor’s Hospital - though it is said not to be operational. # Sources said it should be back on stream before the end of the month. # Meanwhile, the loving mother described her son as a person who was “full of life” and passionate about diving. # “My child had a head on his body like he knew in life what he wanted,” Mrs Sawyer said. “My child was the bubbliest kid always. # “I always feared my child getting bit by a shark because he dove in waters everyday, but I never feared that this would take my child.”

Randall Sawyer, 16, of Cherokee Sound died early Friday morning shortly after he was airlifted to New Providence with symptoms linked with decompression sickness or the bends.

The bends is caused by rapid changes in pressure while diving and can prove fatal.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Rochelle Sawyer, the deceased teen’s mother, said she believed her son could have survived if the island had had a decompression chamber to treat the bends.

“Abaco is in bad shape for healthcare,” she said in an emotional interview. “If there had been a chamber here, they could have put my child in within an hour, my child would have lived.

“Bends happen all the time.”

According to Mrs Sawyer, her son was an experienced diver who started to feel ill at sea on Thursday while he was out spear fishing with a friend.

 “He left that morning about 8.30 to go in the boat as normal spearing fish and when he got back in the boat - and, of course, he was using a compressor - when he got back in the boat, (I was told) that he said he had a headache,” she said.

 “It was two of them diving together and they were on the land so they figured they been in the heat all day and needed to eat and drink something because you’re exhausted.

 “When he got in, he also told one of his friends that he had a pain in his left arm and so they quickly went to the gas station, and they walked to go get a snack and something to drink before they cleaned their fish like they always do.”

 The concerned mother said her son decided to go home after his friends noticed that he did not look well.

 But as the teenager prepared to leave he collapsed.

 Mrs Sawyer said after being contacted about his condition while at work, she then called the ambulance for help.

 She said while Emergency Medical Service workers offered as much assistance as they could, she believed workers at the Marsh Harbour clinic could have responded to the emergency better if they had the proper resources.

 She also believed having her son evacuated to Nassau did not help the situation.

 “I kept asking them if they checked to see if a (decompression) chamber in The Bahamas is working and because people saying it’s not working and they said it’s working it’s always working,” she said.

 “.. and then the plane came in and they decided that they wanted to put my child on a ventilator, so they had to sedate him completely but at all times his vitals had been fine and everyone’s well aware that with the bends, you’re not supposed to fly high,” she said.

 “But the minute we got on the plane and the plane started to get airborne, my child’s pressure started to go through the floor and I could see the doctor is getting very nervous but she’s trying to console herself because I’m in front of her.”

 The Abaco resident said she started questioning the doctor as any concerned mother would, but said the medical worker tried to reassure her and told her that her son’s symptoms were not uncommon.

 After arriving in New Providence, she said her son eventually died.

 Recalling her last moments with him, she said: “PMH they tried their best, but then his heart started to stop so he coded like three times and they got his heart started, but then the fourth time when he coded, it was like 4 o’clock and he just was gone.”

 When contacted yesterday, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville confirmed he was made aware of the case and said an investigation into the matter was ongoing.

 He also sent condolences to the family.

 As for reports about there being no decompression chambers in country, sources familiar with the situation said that was not true.

 The Tribune understands there is at least one decompression chamber located at Doctor’s Hospital - though it is said not to be operational.

 Sources said it should be back on stream before the end of the month.

 Meanwhile, the loving mother described her son as a person who was “full of life” and passionate about diving.

 “My child had a head on his body like he knew in life what he wanted,” Mrs Sawyer said. “My child was the bubbliest kid always.

 “I always feared my child getting bit by a shark because he dove in waters everyday, but I never feared that this would take my child.”