(Kaieteur News) – A family of 14 is among hundreds of Guyanese passengers left stranded in Suriname over the weekend after a decision was taken by the authorities in that country to suspend the cross-border ferry service until further notice.

Safiyah Khan of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, told Kaieteur News that she and her relatives decided to take a road trip to Suriname last week. “I promised my son a trip, if he did well at his exams. This was our first time here so we decided to come together as a family. We are 11 adults including three children so it’s 14 of us altogether.”

The woman noted that when she arrived at the crossing on Friday to return home, they were told that the vessel was not ready. “On Friday, we spent the whole night at the stelling. We sleep in our bus actually 11 hours with three children, only for them to call out Saturday morning around 10 o’clock and tell us the boat is not working. And we were there all night. We asking, we find it out, and no one say nothing to us,” Khan related