The search for one of two men who went missing after being swept out to sea on Sunday in two separate incidents ended Tuesday, with the recovery of the body of English visitor Mark Smith, police said Tuesday.
The other man, St Peter resident Jerome Romario Edwards, 19, has not yet been found.
Police spokesman Inspector Rodney Inniss said around 7:30 a.m, a passerby sighted a body floating about a half kilometre out to sea in the area of the Cliff Restaurant, near Paynes Bay Beach, St James.
The 61-year-old, who was staying at Sunset Crest, St James, was later identified by a close friend and business associate.
On Monday, an eyewitness who declined to be identified told Barbados TODAY he and two other men were standing in the area when they saw Smith making his way towards the water. He said they repeatedly shouted to Smith, pleading with him to turn back.
“I tell that man do not go in the sea. The man looks at me and walk in the sea still and the rip current hold he and drag he out.”
Showing our reporter the exact area where Smith was last seen, the eyewitness said: “We stand from right there and screamed, ‘do not go in the water’.
“He get dragged from that point there to right there. That is a reef. When he realized he was in difficulty he hollering for help, but nobody can’t save him. We just tell he don’t go in there. The water was worse than this here yesterday [Sunday]
Police at Holetown also said that an eyewitness who reported seeing Smith said the visitor was warned repeatedly by others not to venture into the water.
Elsewhere, the search continued for a third day for 19-year-old Jerome Edwards who went missing at the Queen’s Street beach in Speightstown.
Edwards, of Gays, St Peter, went into the water around 2 p.m. Sunday with three friends. According to a police report, the sea was choppy. Around 3:30 p.m., Edwards was reportedly exiting the water when a wave struck him and he did not resurface.
The Police Marine Unit and Coast Guard joined several people who began searching for the young man.
But there have been “no sightings or further developments”, Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Rodney Inniss said Tuesday.
(SD)
