A brutal piracy attack off Suriname’s coast, Friday night, has left 16 fishermen missing and feared dead, according to data provided by Surinamese Coast Guard.
The pirates raided the four boats, that were carrying a total of 20 fishermen, off the Atlantic coast of the South American country and forced them to jump overboard, Cmdr. Jerry Slijngard of the Coast Guard was quoted as saying by international media.
Four of these men managed to swim to shore and three of them are currently receiving medical attention. As they reported, the attackers beat them with machetes and forced them to jump into the water. Some of the victims had batteries tied to their legs to weigh them down.
Local authorities, comprising Coast Guard, police, and the Fisheries Collective Association, have been searching for the missing men with no results so far.
Initial reports suggest the attackers to be four Guyanese nationals, all of them known to the fishermen. Although piracy has been a long-seen fact along the coasts of Suriname and Guyana, this extend of violence is considered unusual in the region.
To mitigate these incidents, Cmdr. Slijngard called for the launching of Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) technology in Suriname that will enable the crew to send distress signals through an emergency button.
