GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Friday September 21, 2012 – After an intensive two-day search operation, the body of Daniel Collinet, a boat captain who was struck by lightning on Monday afternoon, has been recovered by police and regional authorities.

Collinet’s badly burnt body was found on Wednesday morning in the Essequibo River in the vicinity of Wolga. He had been missing since the tragedy occurred while he was ferrying schoolchildren home from Bartica.

According to Region Seven Chairman Gordon Bradford, regional officials had recovered the body and it had been positively identified by Collinet’s relatives. He added that the deceased had suffered massive burns.

The deadly incident reportedly took place in bad weather around 4:00 pm on Monday when Collinet was struck by a lightning bolt and plunged overboard.

The schoolchildren aboard the vessel reportedly scanned the water to locate him, but were rewarded by no more than the sight of the charred life jacket that the captain had been wearing, floating in the river.

One of the students, 13-year-old Marco Klass, was also shocked, burnt, and pitched into the river during the incident. The youngster fortunately managed to swim back to the boat and was pulled to safety by his schoolmates.

The boy was subsequently rushed to the Bartica Hospital and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he was said to be recovering from the ordeal.

Collinet, 51, of West Indian Housing Scheme, in Bartica, Cuyuni/Mazaruni, was operating the boat “Miss Emma” on one of his regular school runs and was reportedly nearing the community of Batavia when the tragedy unfolded.

He had worked with the regional administration for over 15 years and was said to have been a friendly

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