ST JOHN’S, Antigua : With tears in his eyes and pain etched on his face, the father of the island’s latest beach fatality is trying to come to terms with the death of his 18-year-old son, whose lifeless body was pulled from the waters of Pigeon Point Beach early Saturday morning.
“He was a nice quiet, cool boy,” Foster Henry said of his son O’Riley Messiah.
“I saw him last Saturday after I came from the market and we spoke for a while. He was doing OK.”
Henry learnt of his son’s death from one of the sea bathers who discovered the teen’s lifeless body.
“One of the residents who found him called and said the police needed me at Pigeon Point and then my cousin called my girlfriend and she called me,” a visibly distraught Henry said.
Messiah, who resided with his uncle in All Saints, was discovered floating naked approximately 30 yards offshore, around 7 am, one day before Father’s Day.
Residents from the area who went for their early morning swim discovered the body and called the police. The teen was pulled from the water and Emergency Medical Service workers tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.
Dr Sabharmathi, who has responsibility for the district, arrived on the scene and pronounced him dead. Messiah’s body was later moved to Barnes Funeral Home and a post-mortem will be conducted at a later date.
Meanwhile, the autopsy conducted on the body of the late 16-year-old Everette Tonge of Swetes revealed that the cause of death was acute respiratory failure due to drowning. Just about a week ago, Tonge and a friend went diving in the waters off Windward Bay, in the area of the same beach.
Reports are that they were both submerged for some time, and when the friend resurfaced, Tonge was nowhere to be found. The Antigua & Barbuda Search and Rescue Team, along with a local fisherman went in search of the teen, and his body was later recovered from the water.
Tonge’s memorial service is scheduled for tomorrow at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church at Tyrell’s.
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