The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

HUMAN remains of two missing persons were recently recovered in the last two days during post Hurricane Dorian searches conducted by Grand Bahama police, according to a senior police official on Friday, bringing the total number of the dead recovered here on the island to 11.

Supt Brian Rolle, officer in charge of CDU, also reported that of the 11 bodies recovered, there is one unknown male or John Doe, and two unknown females or Jane Does.

He indicated that DNA testing would have to be conducted to identify the unidentified remains.

To date, Police have received 33 missing persons reports on Grand Bahama in relation to the storm. Some 23 photos of those persons were submitted to police.

A grief session was held Friday at the Gerald Bartlett Police Headquarters Complex in Freeport for relatives of the missing. Dr Dawn Gallagher, of GB Health Services, and Pastor Cedric Beckles, of Life Community Church, brought words of encouragement and hope to the grieving.

While addressing the gathering, Supt Rolle vowed that police would continue to search for the missing to bring closure for families, and for the GB community.

“We know how hard this has been on you; how it has been on your families, and we will not take it lightly. It is our continued effort to make you know we are there with you. We are not leaving you on your own in this,” Supt Rolle told the gathering.

There were tears among those attending the session held upstairs in the Police conference room.

Shaniqua Bartlett, who has four family members still missing, said the session was not only informative, but gave them hope that their loved ones would be found.

“The session was very good; it was very informative and very encouraging. Even though we have family members missing it still gives us hope; it makes us feel that all is not lost; it gives us a hope to look forward to tomorrow,” she said.

Ms Bartlett’s two sisters, a nephew, and grandnephew from East Grand Bahama have not been seen or heard from since the storm.

Special efforts are being placed on finding the missing as police have assigned two officers – Sergeant Lewis and Corporal Leden – who are team leaders of daily searches on Grand Bahama.

“Our efforts have been and will continue to be relentless, making sure we leave none,” said Supt Rolle. “Dorian has already stolen the missing; it will continue to be our efforts to bring them where they can be properly (laid to rest).”

Immediately after the storm, Mr Rolle said they deployed teams of six and eight persons on foot from Police Headquarters into different areas to rescue, and later recover persons.

Additionally, he noted that the US Coast Guard’s Black Hawk helicopters assisted in flyovers from September 5 - 25 checking the coastline and areas in the East. Thirty persons were also brought in from US Fire and Rescue from September 6 -14 to assist them in locating missing persons.

“We discovered…this was not just a matter of flying over with helicopters or driving in a vehicle and looking for someone - this was a lot more than that. And we learned that pretty quickly to follow the debris, which was where persons missing would be located.”

With the debris bed in the East about eight or nine feet high, consisting of pine trees and leaves, Supt Rolle said it presented a huge challenge in their search for victims.

Cadaver dogs trained to detect human remains were brought in September 28-30.

Said Supt Rolle: “They (the dogs) gave us 19 hits or different locations which we checked.”

While the dogs were successful in locating dead animals, he said they were unsuccessful in locating any human remains.

The police, he said, had to then turn to heavy equipment to tackle the mounds of debris, using an excavator and heavy-duty tractor.

“Our greatest accomplishment is following the debris, and, just lately we located two remains in the last two days,” Supt Rolle said.

He stressed that police are determined “to bring the missing home.”

“It is our intention and we have been mandated by the Commissioner of Police that we do it, and we will continue to search until as much as humanely possible until we know that no more search can be done,” he said.

Supt Rolle said searches are being carried out in grid markings from Casuarina Bridge to McLean’s Town.

“We have doubled our efforts in some cases because we got additional information from persons who provide us with information because of what they might have noticed or smelled,” he said.

Dr Gallagher, of Family Medical at Eight Mile Rock Community Clinic, believes that the session was very important for persons who are grieving over a missing relative or relatives.

“Everybody is a bit solemn, and it is very difficult to put yourself in the shoes of somebody who has lost a loved one due to hurricane, those kinds of things are really unheard of for us. That was a random thing every so often, but to this extent we have never seen this before, and you could see that people are still trying to come to terms with the fact that we’ve been devastated in the way we are, not only devastated physically but devastated by having lost loved ones as well. And the unknown, not being able to recover some loved ones is something that we just can’t get a grasp on. It is a tough thing to have to face not having answers to the questions, especially when it has to do with loved ones – that is just really hard to accept.”

Dr Gallagher said the only way the people can heal is through forums such as this where we can help each other.

She noted that many times in our tragedies people get isolated in pockets in the community.

“It is forums like this that help us to understand that we are all just one big unit, one big family here on GB. And the extent of the storm and the damage was historical, and ultimately the only way that we are truly going to recover is if we all band together and take this as one mission, one goal, which is to rebuild our community, rebuild our GB, and the only way we can do that is by doing it together,” she said.

Pastor Beckles said the pain the storm brought is a time to bring us closer to God, and to lean on each other for comfort, assistance, and to mend broken ties as a result of past grievances with family and friends.

“Life is not going to be the same,” he said. Pastor Beckles said that while Grand Bahama continues to experience disastrous storms, he is confident that “God still has his hands on Grand Bahama and the Bahamas.”