By INDARJIT SEURAJ Friday, August 21 2009

AMERICAN citizen Raquel Welch reportedly screamed in shock yesterday on her bed in the east wing of the Medical Associates private hospital in St Joseph, after reportedly hearing from doctors in the US that her teenaged daughter’s body was not responding to her left arm which had to be surgically reattached, following a boating accident in Chaguaramas last Sunday.

Welch, 40, and her daughter Paige, 13, both American citizens, and Welch’s nephew Lance Aqui, 23, of Arima, were badly injured after an unregistered 28-foot-long pirogue being steered by a Private in the TT Regiment, plouged into their kayak which was split in two.

Paige underwent surgery at Medical Associates to reattach her left arm which was almost severed in the accident. She was airlifted out of the country on Tuesday, back to the United States, to receive more specialised treatment and monitoring.

But according to sources at the private hospital in St Joseph, Welch got the harrowing news from doctors at a hospital in the United States, that her daughter’s body may be rejecting the reattached limb, which in the end, may not be saved.

However, doctors told Mrs Welch that they have not given up and are still hoping for the best as they continue to monitor the teenager. Mrs Welch remains warded with serious injuries to her back while Aqui is recovering from a serious ankle injury.

Police sources said the propellers of the big 200 horse-power outboard engine on the pirogue sliced into the three after they were thrown into the water when the pirogue ploughed into the flimsy kayak.

The pirogue, its engine and the two pieces of the kayak, remained impounded yesterday at the Coast Guard headquarters in Staubles Bay, Chaguaramas.

At Medical Associates yesterday, relatives refused to confirm or deny the report that US doctors had contacted Mrs Welch about her daughter’s condition, as was claimed by sources at the medical institution.

The relatives said they will continue to not speak to reporters after erroneous reports were made in some sections of the local media (not Newsday).

Up to late yesterday, police sources claimed they knew nothing on the latest developments regarding the investigation into the boating accident.

Acting Corporal Hannibal of the Carenage Police Station is investigating.