Six road deaths in six hours in T&T

(Trinidad Express) SIX deaths in less than six hours were recorded in four separate road traffic accidents across Trinidad yesterday morning.
The eldest of the victims was aged 33, while the average age of the six killed was 26.
The carnage began at 1 a.m. yesterday with the death of 21-year-old Andrew Edwards in Guapo.
According to reports, Edward was driving his vehicle, PBU 671, in an easterly direction along Southern Main Road, Guapo, when he was struck head-on by an oncoming vehicle near a sawmill.
Edward suffered massive injuries and died at the scene.
The driver of the other vehicle was detained by officers.
And a total of seven drunk drivers were arrested by officers of the South Western Division between Saturday night and yesterday morning.
Ten minutes later, the first of two double road fatalities was recorded.
The accident, which occurred in West Trinidad, claimed the lives of cousins William, 31, and Dr Lyndon Chang, 33.
The duo were on the way home from making a late night food run.
Dr Chang, the eldest of the victims, was a doctor assigned to Scarborough General Hospital in Tobago.

Jamie Stockin
Jamie Stockin

He was the passenger in his cousin William’s car. William Chang was the manager of Westend Bar.
The duo were returning home after going for hamburgers.
According to police reports, around 1.10 a.m., William was driving his Mazda, PBS 5694, west along Western Main Road when he was given a “bad drive” near International School in Westmoorings.
William lost control of his car, which struck a Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) pipeline, flipped and plunged into the Diego Martin river.
The car landed upside-down in the swollen river.
The cousins were trapped inside.
Officers of the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service used the “Jaws of Life” to free the Changs.
Their lifeless bodies were removed from the car. It is believed that they drowned.
The Express yesterday visited William’s family home at Gardier Street, Pt Cumana in Carenage. However, relatives were too distraught to talk.
Dr Chang’s family lived a stone’s throw away at Maraj Drive in Glencoe.
Less than an hour after the death of the cousins, another road fatality was recorded, this time in Central Trinidad.
Clint Sookhan, 19, was killed in a hit-and-run accident moments after calling his mother to tell her he was safe following a car crash.
Sookhan was the youngest of the six victims.
According to reports, around 2 a.m., Sookhan, of Manahambre Road, Princes Town, was struck by a vehicle on the southbound carriage-way in the vicinity of Chaguanas.
Sookhan was standing at the roadside after he exited his vehicle which was in the centre highway median after being involved in an accident.
Anoop Gajadhar, who was a passenger in Sookhan’s car, said he (Sookhan) had just gotten off the phone with his mother.
Sookhan called to tell his mother he was involved in an accident but was safe.
He was standing at the roadside when he was struck by a black van, the van did not stop.
Sookhan died at the scene.
Investigators are checking surveillance from the nearby closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to find the killer van and its driver.
The last of yesterday’s four fatal accidents occurred around 6.20 a.m.
Dead are Amit Sooknanan, 24, and Jamie Stockin, 26.
Alvin Rennie sustained two broken legs in the accident.
The crash occurred along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway between the Maritime Roundabout overpass and the Suzuki showroom in Barataria.
According to reports, Rennie parked his Toyota Hilux on the shoulder of the highway and was standing outside when tragedy struck.
A gold-coloured Nissan Cefiro, belonging to Stockin but driven by Sooknanan, struck the rear of Rennie’s van.
The van moved forward as a result of the impact and Rennie was struck.
The Cefiro ended its collision course in a ditch.
Sooknanan and Stockin died at the scene as a result of their injuries.
Fire Service officers used the “Jaws of Life” to remove the bodies.
Stockin’s parents are said to be currently vacationing in Germany.
One hundred and thirty lives have been lost on the nation’s roads for the year to date.