Woman who claims she had first-hand experience describes trying to assist victims of the tragedy
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — T’Sean Mott, the purported partner of Candice McDonald yesterday described feeling robbed of the chance to marry the woman of his dreams following her tragic death in a boating accident off Eleuthera Sunday night.
Mott said in a Facebook post: “Last night, I lost more than a girlfriend; I lost my best friend.
“We had just spoken and then this. I lost my other half. I lost my world. We were inseparable. My love for you was no secret, Candice. I have no words to say but ‘thank you’.
“You were everything I wanted in a woman. You kept me on my toes. You enhanced every aspect of my life. I thought I had everything figured out until you came into my life and enlightened me. The world was robbed yesterday of untapped potential. You were destined for greatness.”
Mott called McDonald an ideal role model for young women and someone who embodied what it means to be a virtuous woman.
He said the pair met on March 6, 2019, and when he saw her for the first time in the mall, he “didn’t have to guess” his feelings.
“You were my main inspiration,” he said.
“I worked extra hard because I knew, eventually, I wanted to make you my wife. However, God had other plans.
“I’m still lost for words. I planned out my entire life with you in it. Now, all I have left are memories. You may not be here physically, but I know you’re still with me. I will continue to push and fight because I know you would want me to continue.”
McDonald was one of eight passengers traveling onboard a 17-foot Boston Whaler who were all thrown into waters off Harbour Island when the vessel reportedly collided with a 28-foot Bertram on Sunday night.
She, along with Leanna Cartwright-Butler and Jay Roberts, perished in the accident.
A man and two women were treated at the Harbour Island Clinic and discharged; while another two women were airlifted to New Providence and last listed in critical condition.
In an 18-minute live video, a woman whose Facebook username is “Too Real” gave what she claimed was a first-hand account of spotting the overturned boat in the waters as another vessel she was on passed the area.
She said she dove in the waters with another woman, who was an experienced swimmer, to search underneath the vessel for any survivors and felt someone’s leg, prompting her to shout for help.
She questioned how another boat could have collided with the vessel and simply left the area.
“When I…dive under the boat, I could have feel the person leg,” she said in the recording.
“When I dive underneath and I tell them, I say: ‘Hey, somebody underneath this boat.’ I keep telling them all night…
“I said: ‘We can’t leave; this boat flip over. We have to see what’s going on. Somebody under this boat.’
“No one believe me all flicking night. No one believe me.”
According to the police report, the captain of the larger vessel believed he had hit a reef and did not learn of the accident until later.
In another live video around 9.27pm Sunday, the same woman can be seen on a boat in pitch darkness except for the lights from the shore in the distance and those onboard the boat.
She can be heard asking someone to hold her phone.
“Hold this, hold this, hold this, hold this please,”
A man shouts to her: “No. No. You ain’t going in the water, you ain’t going in the water, baby.”
Several people can be seen peering overboard at the apparently overturned boat in the water.
The man continues to dissuade the women from entering the water, asking: “What you going [to] do? Nothing.”
Another person shouts to bring the boat back around.
The woman recording makes another attempt for someone to hold her phone.
She asks: “Someone in there? Where the peoples? Try flip it over. Someone in there. Hold this. Hold this.”
The video ends after just over a minute.
She said it was not until later when a man dove underneath the boat that he confirmed someone was trapped underneath.
She claimed that when they finally pulled the female victim up, her nose was bleeding and those who retrieved her began administering CPR.
North Eleuthera MP Howard “Rickey” Mackey said the islands are reeling after the tragedy, and asked for the nation to offer their prayers.
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