Survivors of the fatal Buck Hall crash, in which four persons died on Saturday, yesterday suggested that poor visibility may have led to the accident.
Aubrey Evans, 60, of Supenaam, Essequibo; George Persaud, 31, of Berbice; Pamela Solomon, 41, of ‘B’ Field, Sophia; and Richard Doobay, 33, of Riverstown, Essequibo, succumbed to injuries they sustained in the accident, which occurred when the driver of the bush truck GNN 8941 they were travelling in lost control of the vehicle as he was going up a hill, at 115 Kilometres, Buck Hall.
The truck, which was transporting a load of drums with diesel and other articles as well as passengers, toppled several times as a result.
Seven other persons suffered injuries and were brought out to the Georgetown Public Hospital for medical attention, police noted yesterday.
Among them is Kavita Klinken, 20, who yesterday recalled the truck toppling a number of times as she tried to hold on to her boyfriend, Norlando Brown.
“It was dark and we couldn’t see a thing going up the hill and the truck suddenly turn over and I hold on to me boyfriend and just like that I don’t know what but I felt him loose away from me,” Klinken said.
She said that all she remembered was falling and being pinned down at her legs. “When I feel a rope wrapped around my neck and the truck was on my foot so I couldn’t move. He (Brown) came and some other boys released me from the rope and try get my foot out,” she added said.
Brown recalled that while holding on to his girlfriend’s hand, he was struck by a tree branch and sent falling to the ground.
“I was in a standing position at the back of the tray when the tree hit me away from the truck and it was so black I couldn’t see where I was falling,” Brown added.
He said that a couple of minutes after he landed on the ground, he heard the scream of Klinken.
Meanwhile, Michael Carter, 28, said that he was in the back of the tray when the accident occurred.
“The truck from the time it took the edge of the hill and ran off the road, I jumped out but like it was in the wrong direction and before you know it I felt something drop on my chest and press on me chest,” Carter said.
He said that other passing trucks assisted in getting the injured out the wreckage and removing the dead, who died on the spot. He added that a jeep from the Barama Company assisted with getting the injured to a nearby health centre.
Carter said that the driver was not speeding at the time of the accident.
Meanwhile, Solomon’s son, Brian Simpson, said that at the time of the accident his mother was heading to Mabaruma to sell electronics and buy gold.
Simpson said that one of the survivors related to him that he fell off the truck and Solomon yelled out for him a couple of times before everything went silent.
He said that Solomon was sitting in the front seat of the truck, between the driver and owner of the vehicle, who both jumped out just minutes before the vehicle toppled, leaving her trapped.
Some of the electronics which were to be sold and $500,000 in cash that she had in her possession were not recovered, he noted.
“We need a proper investigation into this accident because they have many accounts from what happened and none of them ain’t coming up to be the truth,” a relative of the woman said.
Solomon, who is survived by her husband and eight children between the age of 30 and 8, was remembered as a loving mother, friend and sister, who did everything she could to assist others in need.
