标签： Bahamas

A devastating workplace accident has shaken the tight-knit community of Grand Cay in the Bahamas, where a 35-year-old Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) employee and small business owner died from electrocution while on the job Tuesday evening.

Lawrence Cooper, who had served BPL for more than five years and ran his own ferry service on the island, was performing maintenance on a high-voltage utility pole shortly before 9 p.m. when the incident occurred. First responders rushed the injured worker to Grand Cay’s local clinic, but he was pronounced dead just an hour after arriving at the facility.

The sudden loss has left Cooper’s family and neighbors reeling, with his uncle Maxwell Cooper describing the tragedy as an unexpected blow. Maxwell, who raised Lawrence and taught him most of his technical skills while the pair lived in the same family compound for years, spoke to local outlet The Tribune while waiting to transport his nephew’s remains off the island. “Everybody liked him. The whole community liked him. He was a nice boy. He liked boats,” Maxwell shared, noting that the entire community is struggling to process the sudden passing.

In an official statement released the day after the incident, BPL confirmed that formal investigations into the fatal accident are already underway, and offered its full condolences to Cooper’s family, friends, and colleagues. The utility company added that it is prioritizing support for affected staff and will release further details as the investigation progresses. Energy Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis also announced that BPL CEO Toni Pratt will lead an official delegation to Abaco to meet with on-island staff and coordinate support for the team in Grand Cay. “We remain deeply grateful to BPL’s teams for continued dedication to restoring electricity for consumers. However, this tragedy serves as a reminder that the safety and security of our employees must remain our highest priority,” the minister said.

Kirk Cornish, the Member of Parliament for North Abaco, echoed the national mood of mourning, remembering Cooper as a deeply dedicated public servant. “This tragedy was a solemn reminder of the risks faced by the men and women who work daily to keep the country’s electricity system running,” Cornish said. “As we mourn this heartbreaking loss, let us keep his family and all who knew and loved him in our thoughts and prayers.”

Cooper’s death marks the second fatal electrocution in the Bahamas in the span of just one month, and it comes amid a growing string of deadly workplace accidents across the country that have reignited widespread public concern over national industrial safety standards. Just one week prior to the Grand Cay incident, 68-year-old painter and contractor John Walkes was killed by electrocution while working at the Bimini Blue Water Marina, when he made accidental contact with energized high-voltage equipment.

For Ingrid Francois, a rainy Sunday morning in July began like any other. When bad weather derailed her 27-year-old son Antonio Cartwright’s usual skateboard commute to his job, she offered him a ride, still with no idea that it would be the final time she would see him alive. Four days later, her worst fears were confirmed when Cartwright’s body was discovered hanging from a tree in dense brush near Hacio Point Close, in what authorities are investigating as a suspected suicide.

The tragedy has sparked sharp questions from Francois about both law enforcement’s handling of her missing person report and the quality of mental health care her son received in the months before his death. Cartwright, a hardworking and ambitious painter with a side business planning event decorations, had received a formal schizophrenia diagnosis earlier in 2024. Just two days before he vanished, he attended a routine psychiatric appointment that left Francois deeply unsettled about the direction of his treatment.

According to the official missing person filing, Cartwright was last spotted around 8:30 a.m. on July 19 at his workplace, CBS Bahamas, located in Southwest Plaza. His typical routine after work saw him clock out at 5:30 p.m. and make the 30-minute skateboard trip home. When he failed to arrive that evening and did not respond to repeated calls and texts, Francois knew something was wrong. She immediately filed a missing person report with local police, but walked away frustrated when officers told her the official search process would not begin for another 24 hours.

“I told them he’d already been missing for 25 hours,” Francois said in an interview. “Y’all have to move faster than that.” Beyond the initial delay, Francois claims that law enforcement failed to follow through on critical information she provided that could have led to an earlier discovery of her son’s body. She told officers that Cartwright often spoke about the brush-lined track road where his body was eventually found, and explicitly urged them to search the dense vegetation along the route. But according to Francois, officers only drove past the area on Monday and never actually entered the bushes to conduct a thorough search.

It was not until last Thursday that the search ended with the grim discovery: Cartwright’s nephew, part of a family search party that returned to the area after police called off their initial sweep, ventured into the brush and found the body. The young man remained on scene in a state of shock until other relatives called him out of the vegetation.

To his mother, Cartwright was far more than a statistics on a missing person list or a name in a tragedy report. He was a driven, creative young man constantly chasing new opportunities to build a better life. A skilled commercial painter, he regularly took on high-risk jobs scaling the exterior walls of tall buildings to complete work — once sending his mother a photo taken from such a great height that pedestrians on the ground looked no bigger than ants.

Never content to stick to one line of work, Cartwright was also building his own small business renting decorative lighting for parties and special events, choosing to carve out a niche separate from the more common balloon decoration ventures that dominate the local market. Just days before his disappearance, he asked his mother for a power drill to work on another new side project. But Francois said her son’s string of entrepreneurial ventures had hit a series of devastating setbacks in recent months, leaving him struggling to regain his financial footing.

“He started to do a lot of different jobs and everything crumbled,” Francois said. “To get back on his feet, I think it was a struggle, and he probably didn’t want to face all of that.” Even after his schizophrenia diagnosis earlier this year, Cartwright remained determined to keep working and pursue his goals, a resilience his mother remembers fondly. It was the Friday before his disappearance that the family attended the troubling medical appointment, where providers discussed adjusting the frequency of Cartwright’s medication. Francois left the appointment deeply unhappy with the interaction, and says she plans to launch a private review of what transpired during the visit.

“That session was not good and that’s something I’m going to look into because I didn’t like the session at all,” she said. She questioned why medical staff did not take more urgent action when Cartwright displayed signs of irrational speech during the appointment, noting that she left the meeting with a deep sense of unease that something bad would happen.

That Sunday rain that led Francois to drive her son to work ended up giving the pair one last unexpected moment together. She fixed him breakfast before the drive, and as she dropped him off, she reminded him not to fill up on snacks before she made dinner that evening. “I said, ‘Antonio, don’t eat anything heavy. Mommy’s going to cook today,’” she recalled. “But this time, he didn’t say anything back.”

Francois now sees that rainy morning as a final gift, giving her one last chance to care for her son before he died. She also views the way he left his skateboard, propped neatly against the family lawn, as a quiet farewell, a sign that he had found peace in his final moments. Even weeks after the tragedy, she says she still struggles to process what happened. “To this day, I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I feel like he could walk through the door, but I know he’s gone.”

A landmark graduation ceremony unfolded at Nassau’s Word of Truth Ministries this week, where nine young men between the ages of 14 and 19 crossed the stage to mark the end of a four-month intensive leadership and life skills development journey through the NexGen Young Men Mentorship Programme. As the fourth cohort of participants to complete the nation-focused initiative, these trainees built foundational capabilities over 10 skill-building workshops and two orientation sessions held between March and June 2024.

The program’s curriculum was crafted to address gaps in youth preparation for adulthood, covering far more than standard academic learning. Workshop topics ranged from core professional competencies like leadership, communication, and financial literacy to practical life skills including etiquette, home maintenance, basic automotive care, and personal health and wellness. The curriculum is intentionally designed to equip participants for both long-term career success and active community engagement, aligning with the program’s core theme: “Serve Locally, Lead Globally, Building Character, Capacity, and Commitment to Country”.

Founded by former Bahamian senator Ronald Duncombe, NexGen operates as an entirely nonpartisan initiative, open to young men from all political backgrounds with no party affiliation requirements for entry. Duncombe explained that every applicant undergoes a rigorous vetting interview to confirm their genuine commitment to personal growth before being accepted into the cohort. This selective process has cultivated a group of driven young people with clear, ambitious career goals spanning high-demand and public-facing fields, from neurosurgery and aviation to engineering, politics, and other areas of public service.

Duncombe praised the cohort’s clarity of purpose, noting that unlike many teens their age who may be uncertain about their future paths, these graduates spoke with unwavering conviction about their intended careers. “I am so proud to say to you that we have some future leaders and future men coming in our country,” he shared in his address to attendees. The graduation event drew high-level government representation, including three sitting Bahamian Cabinet ministers: Fred Mitchell, Pia Glover-Rolle, and Keith Bell. Senator Clint Watson delivered official remarks on behalf of Prime Minister Philip Davis, reinforcing the government’s recognition of the program’s value for national youth development.

During the ceremony, each graduate received a professional briefcase, a symbolic gift representing their readiness to enter professional spaces and pursue new opportunities. Duncombe urged the new graduates to prioritize three core principles as they move forward: protecting their personal reputations, building intentional professional and community relationships, and always showing up prepared for interviews, meetings, and unexpected opportunities that will shape their futures. He also highlighted the long-term impact of the program, noting that previous NexGen cohorts have gone on to build successful careers across a wide range of critical national sectors, including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, media and communications, accounting, professional sports, and aviation.

In his remarks, Senator Watson emphasized that professional preparedness and presentation are only the first step to lasting success. He stressed that consistent character, intentional action, and reliable commitment to fulfilling responsibilities are far more critical to achieving long-term goals. Cabinet Minister Fred Mitchell centered his keynote address on a pressing public issue facing Caribbean youth: pervasive interpersonal violence among young men. He urged the graduates to reject cycles of conflict and make deliberate, forward-thinking choices that will allow them to build long, productive lives that contribute to their communities.

Speaking on behalf of the 2024 graduating cohort, class representative Fisk Burrows Jr. reflected on the transformative impact of the program. He shared that the four-month journey had not only built critical practical skills but also strengthened the graduates’ overall confidence, fostered greater personal independence, and deepened their understanding of what ethical, effective leadership requires for community and national progress.

In the wake of a deadly July 10 plane crash near San Andros Airport that claimed all ten lives on board, furloughed staff from regional carrier Flamingo Air are scrambling to plot new career paths, as lingering questions about the airline’s ability to resume operations grow more urgent.

The Bahamas’ aviation regulator immediately suspended Flamingo Air’s Air Operator Certificate following the crash, putting 35 employees on indefinite unpaid leave pending the final outcome of the official investigation into the disaster. With no clear timeline for a resolution, workers have been forced to draw down personal savings to cover basic living expenses while waiting for official guidance from airline leadership.

Many are still waiting on promised unemployment support from the country’s National Insurance Board, with multiple employees confirming they have only just completed the required application paperwork and have yet to receive any financial assistance. One worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told local outlet The Tribune, “We haven’t received anything yet. We were just filling out forms and getting our documents.”

While the sudden suspension has left most employees in professional and financial limbo, some have reframed the uncertainty as an opportunity to pivot to new careers or pursue long-held entrepreneurial goals. One furloughed staff member noted, “I’m quite fine. I’ve actually been looking into avenues to do my own thing so I don’t know if this is the avenue here.”

Not all workers have been able to secure alternative income, however. Another employee shared that she has yet to find a new role, adding, “We’re trying to figure out what’s going on.” Despite the lack of communication from Flamingo Air’s management in the weeks since the crash, many employees still hold out hope that the carrier will eventually be cleared to restart operations.

A new layer of controversy has emerged around the crash following revelations that Flamingo Air had been linked to at least 14 publicly recorded safety incidents and accidents over the previous 20 years, long before the July 10 disaster. Energy, Utilities and Aviation Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis has previously acknowledged that regulators have not yet explained why the airline’s operating certificate was not suspended years earlier, given its long track record of safety issues.

Aviation authorities have committed to releasing a preliminary investigative report on the crash no later than August 10, a document that will shape both the future of Flamingo Air and the fates of its 35 out-of-work employees.

A landmark medical negligence ruling from the Bahamas Supreme Court has held Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) legally responsible for the 2022 death of a newborn baby girl, finding critical gaps in maternal and foetal monitoring during a 27-minute wait for an emergency caesarean section directly caused the infant’s fatal injury.

Acting Justice Raynard Rigby KC delivered the judgment last week in a wrongful death claim brought by Widline Guillaume, whose daughter Elizabeth Lundy died just two hours after birth on August 2, 2022. The ruling followed a three-day bench trial in June that pitted competing expert testimony against one another, debating whether the newborn died from undiagnosed congenital heart disease or preventable oxygen deprivation.

Guillaume first arrived at PMH’s public maternity ward late on August 1, 2022, at 39 weeks and three days gestation, after reporting regular contractions and abdominal cramping. She began active pushing at approximately 2:05 a.m., with initial assessments conducted by Dr. Azaria Clare around 3:30 a.m. Lead obstetrician Dr. Agatha Foulkes-Mackey arrived shortly before 4 a.m., and the medical team quickly determined a caesarean section was necessary after labour stalled.

By 4:10 a.m., Guillaume had reached the entrance to the operating theatre, but a mandatory COVID-19 test requirement delayed her admittance until 4:37 a.m. The test result was finalized at 5:10 a.m., the surgical incision was made five minutes later, and Elizabeth was delivered alive at 5:20 a.m. Justice Rigby explicitly cleared the medical team of unreasonable delay in scheduling or executing the emergency procedure, noting Dr. Clare and Dr. Foulkes-Mackey acted promptly to move Guillaume toward surgery. But he drew a clear line between the timeliness of the procedure itself and the complete lack of monitoring during the 27-minute waiting period.

Prior to the decision to order an emergency caesarean, cardiotocography readings had already recorded a T1 deceleration in the foetus’s heart rate, a clear indicator of early foetal distress that required ongoing continuous monitoring. Despite this, no medical staff recorded any data on Elizabeth’s condition between 4:10 a.m. and 4:37 a.m. Justice Rigby rejected the defence’s argument that limited hospital resources left no handheld monitoring devices available for use during the wait, calling the explanation unconvincing and legally inadequate. He emphasized that the need for an emergency caesarean alone created a binding obligation on the hospital to maintain consistent monitoring of both mother and child, even while waiting for test results. Additional evidence from a prenatal ultrasound two months prior to delivery had shown no foetal abnormalities, with normal amniotic fluid levels and healthy foetal movement and function.

After birth, Elizabeth received relatively healthy Apgar scores of seven and eight at the one-minute and five-minute checks, respectively. But her condition declined rapidly while being transported from the operating theatre: nursing records document that she grew pale, developed cyanosis (a blue-gray discoloration of the skin caused by oxygen deprivation) in her face, hands and feet, and required urgent transfer to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Despite immediate resuscitation efforts including chest compressions, the newborn died later that same morning.

In his ruling, Justice Rigby repeatedly criticized gaps in the evidence presented by the defence. No staff members involved in post-delivery care testified to explain the rapid deterioration of Elizabeth’s condition, and no detailed records of post-birth monitoring were entered into the court record. Most notably, an autopsy was never performed to confirm the cause of death, a step both expert witnesses agreed would have clarified the fatal outcome. Defence expert Dr. Paul Ward argued Elizabeth’s death was the result of an undiagnosed congenital heart defect, but claimant expert Dr. Carlos Athlestan Chase testified the death stemmed from perinatal asphyxia, or oxygen deprivation, consistent with the cause of death listed on the infant’s death certificate.

Justice Rigby ultimately sided with the claimant’s expert, noting Guillaume’s prenatal records showed no indication of a congenital heart condition, and all prior cardiovascular screenings were normal. He concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, the 27-minute gap in monitoring caused the fatal oxygen deprivation that killed Elizabeth.

The ruling also pointed to broader procedural failures in the case: key clinical guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which were widely discussed during the trial, were never formally entered into evidence. PMH’s official COVID-19 testing protocols for surgical patients, which directly caused the waiting period that led to the monitoring gap, were also not produced for the court. Justice Rigby further criticized both parties for failing to pursue mediation or out-of-court settlement before proceeding to trial, noting the amended claim for only $10,950 in special damages (covering medical fees, medication, and funeral costs) was not excessive, and the case was well-suited for alternative dispute resolution. “This case is an ideal one for mediation,” the judge wrote. “A qualified mediator would more likely have led the parties to a sensible compromise.”

Moving forward, the Supreme Court has ordered that total damages owed to Guillaume be assessed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, and ruled that the hospital and Dr. Foulkes-Mackey will be responsible for covering Guillaume’s legal costs if the two sides cannot agree on a final damage amount.

Robert Dupuch Carron, who served as deputy chairman of the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) at the time of the incident, called the outcome a tragedy, saying he was deeply distressed that the case took as long as it did to reach a resolution. He added that he has confidence in the current PHA board leadership to address systemic gaps in care and implement changes to reduce the risk of similar preventable deaths in the future.

A shocking viral video capturing a bullying incident at CH Reeves has ended in an extraordinary show of forgiveness, bringing two feuding teenagers together in a shared summer youth employment program after a coordinated intervention by local advocacy groups, law enforcement, and both boys’ families.

The widely circulated clip, which spread rapidly across social media platforms in recent days, showed a 13-year-old student surrounded by a crowd of peers who pressured another teen to assault him. Rather than engaging in the confrontation, the targeted teen refused to fight and eventually fled the group. The footage sparked widespread public outrage, but it also spurred Khandi Gibson, founder and president of the Bahamas-based advocacy organization Families of All Murder Victims (FOAM), to step in before the conflict escalated into further harm.

“I was disturbed about the video, and I asked if anybody knew this young man’s parents to please have them reach out to me because I would like to personally get him ready for school,” Gibson explained in an interview. “We have other people who saw the video and didn’t do anything. But God just tell me, ‘Man, I have to step in. I can’t be seeing something like that and don’t intervene.’”

After members of the public shared contact information with Gibson, she connected with Genal Bodie, the targeted teen’s mother, on a Saturday night and met the entire family the very next morning. She offered Bodie’s son a spot in one of FOAM’s two annual summer youth programs: a skill-building summer camp with classes in math, English, arts and crafts, gardening, and educational field trips, or the “Our Community Matters” junior workforce program, which provides hands-on work experience for young people. The teen opted for the workforce placement.

Hours later, the father of the teen identified as the aggressor reached out to Gibson to seek a peaceful resolution. Gibson proposed a joint conflict-resolution meeting at the Grove Police Station, with senior officers agreeing to host and support the discussion. On the day of the meeting, something unexpected happened: the 13-year-old bullying victim asked Gibson to give his alleged aggressor a spot in the same workforce program he had just joined.

Gibson recalled the moment with awe: “The funniest thing about it is, the little boy who was actually getting bullied — and he still called him his friend — he said ‘Ms Gibson, you can’t give my friend a job where I work at FOAM too?’ I am saying to myself, this boy just [had someone try] fight him and he had to break off running and he asking for a job for him.”

Gibson granted the request, and both boys started work at FOAM’s headquarters the same day. Their daily tasks include answering incoming phone calls, greeting office visitors, and supporting other administrative and operational tasks. Through the program, both teens earn a weekly stipend and receive free daily lunch, in addition to building foundational professional skills.

Gibson says the pair have already put their prior conflict behind them. “You should see those two working together today. They’re like nothing ever happened,” she said.

The outcome offers a powerful lesson in the capacity of young people to extend forgiveness even in the wake of harm, Gibson noted, echoing a religious framing to emphasize the moment: “I said that’s why the Bible tells us, unless we become as these little ones, we can’t enter the kingdom of God, because little children are forgiving.”

Gibson extended public gratitude to the Grove Police Station’s senior leadership team, led by Chief Superintendent Christlyn Skippings, for their collaboration in facilitating the mediation. Moving forward, police plan to identify the other teens who appear in the viral video and organize a separate roundtable discussion with their families to address the incident and prevent future conflict.

Gibson says she hopes this community-centered intervention will serve as a replicable model for addressing youth conflict across the region, proving that early, collaborative action can stop disputes from escalating into serious violence. “Let’s start the trend somewhere,” she said.