Christmas celebrations ended prematurely for one family yesterday after an early morning accident left a young man dead.

Kellon Griffith

University of Guyana student Kellon Griffith, 26, of 67 Atlanticville, East Coast Demerara, died yesterday after the vehicle he was travelling in turned turtle along the Clive Lloyd Drive, near Celina’s Atlantic Resort. The driver of the vehicle, Kurt Persaud, 20, of John Street, Campbellville and another passenger, Gerald Harry, 20, of South Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara, suffered injuries and were taken to the Georgetown Hospital, where they were admitted as patients.

According to police, the accident occurred at about 4 am. The vehicle was being driven along the roadway at a fast rate and the driver lost control and crashed into a metal rail. The vehicle then turned turtle.  It was the second fatal accident within a day that was blamed on speed and coupled with the constant rainfall police yesterday issued a caution to motorists to use the roads with care and to avoid speeding and drinking and driving.

A teary-eyed Garie Griffth, the deceased man’s mother, learned that her son had been involved in an accident when his friends visited in the early hours of the morning. She travelled to hospital. “When I went there I had a dead son,” she recounted.

According to her, Kellon had left home around 9 pm on Christmas night to go out with friends.

She said he had only celebrated his birthday last month. He was studying environmental studies at the University.