The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

THE mother of a 21-year-old Andros man who reportedly fell off a boat and was not recovered wants the police to investigate the incident and question the man’s uncle who captained the vessel.

Ryan Barr and his uncle were in a 15-foot Boston Whaler near Little Whale Cay off the Berry Islands when the young man reportedly fell overboard.

Barr’s mother, Agnes Marshall, confirmed yesterday that search efforts for her son have since ended. She said she had accepted his tragic fate.

However, she said she is concerned that this is more than a story about a mishap at sea.

 “On May 5, they left their place of work to come to Andros to sell fish that they had caught,” she wrote in a statement to The Tribune. “They left Andros that evening and headed back towards the cay around 4.35. They made a story at Chub Cay, the last place my son was seen by anyone.

“Ryan and his uncle got in the boat and headed towards Little Whale Cay, their final destination. Sometime after leaving Chub Cay, they made a phone call to the cay where they worked for fuel as they had almost run out. It only took a few minutes to get the fuel to them, but when Ryan’s brother goes there, only one person was in the boat sitting down.”

 Ms Marshall said the uncle told her son “Ryan had fallen out of the boat” and that he “didn’t know where he fell out”.

 She expressed surprise at this, saying the boat had travelled in shallow waters.

 “I need answers,” she said. “That was my baby boy, and he didn’t deserve this.”

 “My son is missing, and the captain of the boat is walking free without giving any accounts for what has happened.”

 Yesterday, Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, the officer in charge of CDU, told The Tribune he was unaware of the matter.

 Ms Marshall described her son as the heart of her family.