A heavy weight has been lifted off the minds of Omar Skyers’ family, as his body was finally found on Saturday — 16 days after he washed away in the Wag Water River in Castleton, St Mary.

His body was reportedly found in a river in Broadgate in the parish.

Omar and his friend Chrisan Steele were swept away on September 12. Steele’s body was found two days later, on September 14.

Ann-Marie Skyers breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday.

“Friday we received a call and we were told that they saw a body washing down the river. They found him today [Saturday]. It is confirmed. They found him after 1:0o pm. One of his best friends identified him. It is great to get closure now.

“Last week Saturday, we kept a nine night for him. When we were there, I told them that with the massive turnout that Omar get, he is going to show up,” Omar’s sister told the
Jamaica Observer. “It was raining and people were out there in the rain. People love him and they wanted the opportunity to keep a funeral for him. We couldn’t keep a funeral without a body.”

“A lady in Seaview Gardens where he lived told us that he visited her in her dreams twice and said he wanted to show up himself, but he didn’t want the crowd to come,” Skyers added.

Her tone and mood were far different from when the Sunday Observer spoke to her on September 17, seeking an update on the search.

At that time, she said: “They are still searching. We just want to find the body to get some closure. It is like our lives are on pause. We want to get the body and move on, whether it is whole or in pieces. We just want something to send him off and get back to our lives.

“It truly dampens our spirit. The people searching for him really worked hard. His friends took days off from work to search for him. It is rough when you lose someone and you can’t get a body to do what you want to do. We have faith that we will find something, even if it has to be cremated same time,” Ann-Marie told the Sunday Observer then.

On September 13, Chrisandra Steele, Chrisan’s younger sibling, gave an account of what she witnessed on the fateful day her sister and Omar were swept away in the river.

She said she watched as her sister was knocked off a rock by a strong gush of water along with debris before she was washed downstream.

“We were in the water, but some black suppen did a pitch on my skin. I came out of the water and washed them off my skin. I was ready to go and I said, ‘Chrisan, come nuh, mi ready.’ I said it about three times. I told her my head was hurting me. She said she nah come, so I just leave her. She sat down on a rock. Everybody was sitting on a rock,” Chrisandra related.

“By the time mi look, a pure bamboo bush with rubbish start come down. She freeze on the rock. The water start run hard and then a big wave come lick her off. Her head was going up and down until I could see her no more. Mi did a run and a bawl out her name. I was about to go in the water for her, but a lady who live near, and her husband, came with a rope. She hold on to me and took me to the police station. She said I can’t go down to the river. She said if mi go in deh mi a go drown,” Chrisandra shared.

“Even when Chrisan head come up likkle, she never seh help nor nothing. After my sister go down, it look like a wave lick Omar off the the rock that he was sitting on,” she recounted, adding that she didn’t see how Skyers ended up in the water as it was at that time that the woman had prevented her from jumping into the raging river in an attempt to save her sister, despite her inability to swim.