Girls 10 and 11 drowned during birthday creek outing

Two young girls died today during an outing at a creek along the Soesdyke Linden Highway in the vicinity of Splashmains Fun Park. The incident occurred between 15:00hrs and 15.44 hrs on Sunday, September 08, 2024. The families are said to be from Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.

The young girls have been identified thus far only as Joylene and Anica. Anica is said to be celebrating her birthday today Sunday, September 08, 2024. The ages of the girls were given as 10 and 11.

BIG Smith News Watch was told that the children were swimming when they encountered difficulties in the water, both went down and while one was pulled from the water in a semi-conscious state, the other was pulled from the water in an unresponsive state.

Both children were rushed to the hospital after being pulled from the water. They were transported in private vehicles as efforts to have the 911 emergency response dispatch an ambulance to the scene were initially futile. Sometime after, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn reached out to this publication to indicate that an ambulance was being dispatched, by that time however, the girls were already transported from the scene.

According to a source who spoke with us from the scene on Sunday, the creek has a line that separates the deep section of the creek from the shallow section and acts as a boundary line for adult and child swimmers.

“I sat in this car and saw them jumping into the deep section and I was like, look at this, why are they allowed in there? The woman told BIG Smith News Watch.

This is a developing story.