BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A regular Sunday afternoon swim has left an elderly man and a young boy dead while a young girl is hospitalised.
Information reaching SKNVibes is sketchy but this media house learnt that sometime after 11 a.m. today (Sept. 9) 71-year-old Adolphus ‘Dappa’ Stevens of Stapleton Village took his great nephew and a young girl swimming as he normally would do on Sundays at the Conaree Beach, which stretches down to Canada Estate and Keys Village.
Another family member was also there and after sometime seeing the three enter the water she rushed home to her uncle who lives nearby and told him that Stevens and the children were too far out and she could not see them.
The uncle arrived at the scene and was able to rescue the little girl who he said was some distance out in the sea.
He said that she had appeared to have swallowed a large amount of water and was taken to the hospital by the ambulance.
He also told SKNVibes that Steven’s body was found by some Ross students and up to 2:00 p.m. the search was still on for the missing boy.
Upon arrival at the scene, SKNVibes observed an ambulance, undertakers of Jenkins Funeral Home and members of the Crime Scene Unit of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force leaving the area.
Members of the Coast Guard along with two of their divers were still there searching for the body of the missing boy in the area where he was believed to be swimming.
Lieutenant Regiwell Francis, Reserve Officer of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, told SKNVibes that he found the little boy’s body at about 4:00 p.m. resting at the bottom of the ocean.
“He was down about 15 to 20 feet of water and about 150-200 feet from the shore,” he said.
Some family members were also at the scene crying in disbelief at what occurred.
One of them told SKNVibes that Stevens would normally take the children for a swim on Sundays after church.
