MOTHER, relatives, friends and members of the Spanish Town community of Eltham Park cried openly yesterday as divers pulled the bodies of 10-year-old Ikel “Junior” Henry and his seven-year-old brother Sheddar Henry, also called Ragga, from the Rio Cobre.

The two had gone to the river Thursday evening when a foot of Sheddar’s slippers fell into the water. In trying to retrieve it he fell into the deep water and got into difficulties. Like a true brother, Ikel jumped into the river to save him. But he, too, found the current too difficult to manage. They both drowned.

Relatives and friends, who were informed by another boy about the incident, were still hoping that the two boys would be found alive.

At approximately 12:15 yesterday afternoon the bodies of the two, stiff from rigor mortis – a condition caused by chemical changes in the muscles after death – were fished from a depth of 25 feet about half an hour after professional divers from the Marine Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, in collaboration with divers from Diving Technologies Limited began their search.

The position of the boys’ partially outstretched arms suggested that they had been either hugging or grappling for each other when they died.

Dive supervisor at Diving Technologies Rob Humphrey, who made the find, said the bodies were inside a hollow formed by large rocks in one of the deepest areas of the river.

“The visibility down there was very, very poor, you couldn’t see more than six inches in front of your face. The only reason I found them is that I grabbed one of their arms, lifted it up and I saw it was a hand. I continued to search in the area (but) couldn’t find the other one initially. I signalled the other divers to close in on me (then I) came to the surface, handed the little boy off, went back down and immediately found the other little boy,” said Humphrey.

Clearly affected by the tragic incident, one of Humphrey’s colleagues was overheard telling a police officer: “This is the first and last time I am coming down here to do this. Tell the people to keep their children away from the river.”

Yesterday the boys’ mother, Carlene Haughton, was in an obvious state of grief and mental anguish at the stark revelation that the last two of her seven children were in fact dead.

“Mi tell God fi tek me first. Why him neva tek me first?” she wailed after the bodies were found fished from the river.

Other grief-stricken family members cried openly, with some falling to the ground, some fainting and a few others trying to be sources of consolation.

Rushane, the boy who had gone to the river with the two, also broke down in tears when he saw the dead bodies of his two former playmates. He said that fearing his mother would beat him if he returned home without the slipper, Sheddar attempted to retrieve it but fell and was overpowered by the river’s strong currents.

Rushane, a classmate of Ikel, said he tried to hold his friend’s hand but couldn’t reach him so he ran for help.

But by the time that help came, it was already too late. There was no sign of either of the brothers.

Haughton said she was at work at about 5:30 on Thursday when she got a call from her mother saying her sons had fallen into the river and were feared drowned.

“Mi daughta tell mi sey ah slippers dem ah go fah. It better dem lef di slippers cause mi neva did ah go beat them. Look how much slippers mi buy,” she said between sobs.

She said it was the first time her sons were going to the river, which runs just to the back of the large Eltham community that was built in the 1980s.

– thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com