An elderly man was last evening struck down on Mandela Avenue by a John Fernandes Limited shipping container truck and is currently in critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The man, whose identity up to press time was unknown, was said by eyewitnesses, to have been running out of a nearby yard when he was hit by the vehicle, with licence plates TMM7431 around 6:30 PM. The truck was at the time travelling westward on Mandela Avenue and struck the man about two hundred yards from the traffic light intersection of Mandela Avenue and the East Bank Public Road in front of the Agri Parts Machinery & Service office.
One woman, who requested anonymity told Stabroek News, at the scene, that she was on her balcony when she saw the man running out of the yard.
She said everything else happened so quickly that she was left in shock. “All I saw was the truck coming and I don’t know where the man come from but I hear bam and see the big gush of blood there and the man lying on the road .
I seh is dead he dead but when we come out and check he was still breathing”. She added that the victim was bleeding profusely while employees of JFL came out of their vehicle to render assistance. She added that one of the employees called an ambulance from his cell phone.
A public-spirited resident realizing that time was of the essence offered to lend the JFL workers his canter truck to take the victim to the hospital which they accepted. The ambulance arrived some fifteen minutes later.
The driver of the JFL truck took the victim to the GPHC where he underwent emergency medical treatment and was listed as critical up to press time.
