Bus driver dies after transformer falls off truck

The Christmas spirit was shattered yesterday afternoon for a Craig, East Bank Demerara (EBD) family when a transformer that was being transported on a container truck fell on a Route 43 (Linden) minibus, killing the 41-year-old driver instantly.

Dead is Trevor Charles of Lot 97 Craig. Around six persons who were travelling in the bus, which just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, were treated at the Georgetown Hospital for minor injuries.

The incident occurred just before 3 pm yesterday near a steep turn at Friendship, EBD. Charles and a full load of passengers were heading to Georgetown from Linden.

Police yesterday confirmed that the transformer was on a Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) container truck and that the driver was in custody assisting with investigations.

This newspaper was reliably informed that the transformer that fell on the bus along with another, which had landed some distance away, belonged to the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL). However when Stabroek News contacted the power company’s Director of Commercial Services Kesh Nandlall, he said he could not comment since he was not aware of the incident. This newspaper was unable to contact the management of GNIC for a comment.

Several persons at the scene blamed the accident on sloppiness saying that the transformers were not secured to the container truck.

Reports reaching this newspaper are that the bus was heading to Georgetown and the truck was going in the opposite direction. Just as the container truck completed a steep turn on the road, the transformers fell off. One rolled onto the roadway and into the thick bush on the parapet and the other hit the driver’s side of the minibus before coming to rest a few feet away.

Persons flocked to the scene and assisted in taking out the injured who were rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and then transferred to the Georgetown Hospital.

When this newspaper arrived on the scene, police had already covered the spilt fuel from the transformers, which was all over the road, with sand. The two transformers were still where they had landed. Shoes, bags, bus mirrors and pieces of glass and metal from the transformers littered the side of the road. The grass was also covered in the fuel.

A resident who assisted with the injured said the two transformers were not strapped to the truck. He said the passengers in the front and the second seats of the minibus were the ones who suffered injuries.

He added that one woman, who was pregnant, was crying out for pain in her back.

Meanwhile, the badly crushed minibus and the container truck, were later taken to the Grove Police Station. The front of the bus was damaged beyond repair. The driver’s air bag was covered in blood and the interior of the vehicle was littered with the passengers’ belongings.

At the dead man’s home the atmosphere was one of deep grief, as friends and relatives openly wept. Many flocked the home to offer their support to Charles’ wife, Michelle Sealey and their three children.

Amidst tears, Sealey told this newspaper that her husband had been a driver on the Linden route for about 20 years. She said she last saw him around 5.30 am yesterday when he left for work adding that in the past he had been involved in minor accidents.