‘Dem gone lef mi’ - Mother in anguish as two sons drown in Rio Cobre

Alla-Kay Bartley's screams of anguish pierced the air upon seeing the news team yesterday.

She clung to her mother, Winsome Beckford, for support, and wailed at the untimely death of her sons, 17-year-old Kashane 'TJ' Ferguson and 15-year-old Rashane 'AJ' Ferguson.

The teenagers, who travelled with relatives from Whitehall Avenue in St Andrew to Eltham Park in St Catherine for a family reunion, drowned in the Rio Cobre on Sunday afternoon.

Kashane, who recently graduated from Penwood High School, had celebrated his 17th birthday on Saturday. Rashane was a student at Oberlin High School in St Andrew.

"Dem a mi hand and mi foot. The two a dem gone left mi. Dem a mi everything. Saturday was TJ (Kashane) birthday, and in di night him say, 'Mommy,mi cook pound a rice and a small tin a mackerel, yuh wah some?' Oh God! Him bring a cup a juice and mi say, 'All juice, too?' and Sunday, him and him bredda gone," Bartley wailed.

The Ferguson brothers, who are the two oldest of Bartley's five children, were described as inseparable.

The boys had left the reunion with others and went for a swim at the nearby river when Rashane got into difficulties. Kashane tried to assist but was also swept away by the river.

Dem never disrespect mi

"Dem gone left mi, two a dem one time. Dem nuh left out dem one another. Dem a best friend. Sometimes mi trouble dem and tell dem say stop chat mi . Mi hear say Kashane deh pon di rock and see him bredda a go dung, and him stretch him hand fi save him and him slip. Oh God, man!" Bartley cried. "Mi son dem gone. Uno nuh know di pain. Dem nuh left mi side. Mi wash di clothes and dem rinse. Dem wash mi foot dem. Dem scratch mi back and wash mi hair when dem ready. When water short, dem go round like water truck and catch water fi mi. Dem never disrespect mi yet. All if is a sweetie dem a eat, dem come share it with mi. A good pickney dem."

Beckford, the boys' grandmother, said they were celebrating her mother's birthday on Sunday, so they all went to visit her.

"Even my grandmother was there, who is the boys' great-great-grandmother. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Kashane even ask for the WiFi code and was surfing the net," she said.

Bartley said she was supposed to take Kashane to register at HEART/NSTA Trust as he was good at carpentry.

"I was cooking and when I get the news. Everything done. Is one of my son I see coming up from the river with him eye full a water, and him him say AJ drowned and mi start scream out. And den him say is the two a dem. Jesus! Dis ruff bad, and mi nuh think we a go ever get over dis. Dem likkle boys was good children ,but dem say the good die young," Beckford said.

Residents of the West End area of Gordon Pen, where the drownings occurred, said that the waters are deceptively deep and that others have drowned there.