Vivekanand Rudradeo, the 12-year-old who was the victim of a hit and run accident on the East Coast Highway two weeks ago, succumbed to his injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday morning without regaining consciousness .
The boy’s relatives told this newspaper yesterday that he passed away shortly after 6 o’clock yesterday morning in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the public hospital. An aunt related that Vivekanand’s death left his parents in a distraught state, noting that his mother was teary-eyed most of the day yesterday.
The young boy and his father left their Lot 1, Ogle Airstrip road home around 5:20 on the morning of Saturday August 29 for the East Coast Highway when the accident occurred. His father, Suresh Rudradeo, told Stabroek News shortly after the accident that he would usually take his son cycling on Saturday mornings to train him. Vivekanand was a member of Hassan Mohamed’s cycling association.
The lad’s father said that on that fateful Saturday morning, he and his son were riding separate bikes, heading in an easterly direction along the East Coast Public road in the vicinity of Better Hope when they were hit by a speeding car. He said his son took the brunt of the impact, and after hitting the lad, the car brushed him before the driver drove away without rendering assistance. While the elder Rudradeo sustained minor injuries, his son was admitted to the ICU in an unconscious state, nursing injuries to various parts of his body, including his head.
While he was a patient at the public hospital, Vivekanand’s relatives were hopeful that he would have recovered from his injuries, some stating that his condition seemed to be improving even though he was unconscious.
The driver of the car was apprehended by the police shortly after the accident and the boy’s relatives related yesterday that he was released on station bail, pending the young man’s condition.
Vivekanand Rudradeo is expected to be buried within the next few days.
