The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

Devastated Arlene Newton Gaitor said yesterday she will hold on to her father Cyril Gaitor’s last words to her the night before he tragically died, when he told her he loved her. 

Gaitor died in Tuesday’s fishing boat explosion in waters near Morgan’s Bluff, Andros. Police were alerted to the incident around 10am. Five men on board jumped off the boat as it exploded. Four survived while Gaitor lost his life. 

In the wake of the incident, his daughter said devastation has overcome the family, with loved ones struggling to come to grips with the way in which the “happy go lucky” farmer lost his life.

Ms Newton Gaitor said her 53-year-old father loved farming, but was also fond of fishing and did it whenever he had free time. It was his hobby for years, she said.

When he picked her up from work on Monday night, she never imagined it would be the last time she would see him.

“Me and my father were very close. I called him Sunday night to pick me up from work and we talked and laughed. He said ‘Nara,’ as he would call me, ‘I love you. I remember that December 20, 1986 morning you were born,’” said Mr Gaitor, the father of nine.

When asked how the family is coping, she said: “Right now we can only do what any other family would do. We are staying together in prayer.

“To be honest we are just devastated that he’s gone and disappointed in the way it happened. But somehow we are relieved that his body was found and we have a body to bury rather than us not knowing where he is and not having a chance for some kind of closure.”

Asked if there were lingering questions about the incident, she said while there was a lot of speculation, relatives would wait to see a report on the explosion.

She said life won’t be the same without her father but the family will hold on to memories made during a life well lived.

Following the incident, police in New Providence released a report about the explosion.

“Preliminary reports are that shortly after 10am today (Tuesday), five men from Andros were on a fishing trip some three miles off Morgan’s Bluff, when their boat caught afire and an explosion occurred.

“The five men all jumped overboard for safety. A short while later one of the men was found unconscious submerged in the water.

“The man was taken to shore where he was pronounced dead by the island’s local doctor. Investigations are ongoing.”

According to Superintendent Ricardo Richardson, officer-in-charge on the island, Mr Gaitor was a well known person on the island. He was a resident of Mastic Point. 

This fatal incident comes about five months after a 4C’s tour boat exploded in Exuma killing one American woman – Maleka Jackson. Among the 10 other people on board and injured were Tiran Jackson - Mrs Jackson’s husband who lost a leg, and Stefanie Schaffer, a 22-year-old woman from Vermont who had both of her legs amputated.

Two people have since been charged with manslaughter by negligence and causing negligent harm in connection with the incident.