Five persons including a pregnant medic and a nurse died while four others were seriously injured following an accident along the Fairfield Public Road, Mahaicony yesterday morning.
Dead are Keon Sealey, 33, a nurse attached to Mahaicony Hospital; Alana Vaughn, 31, a second year medical student at the University of Guyana (UG) and a medic; Ewart Reynolds, 64 of Calcutta, Mahaicony; Seechan Chandilall of Lot 102 Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice and Maxwell Disraeli Montgomery Thom, 76 of Lot 36, No.3 Village West Coast Berbice. Both Sealey and Vaughn are from Farm, Mahaicony;
Those injured were identified as Cecil Gordon, 46, of Farm, Mahaicony; David Jacobs, 60, his daughter 15-year-old Angela Jacobs, both of Moraikobai, Mahaicony and Sherlon Wills, 46, of Lot 30 Helena, Mahaica.
The injured persons were all taken to the Mahaicony Hospital and were later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where their conditions are listed as serious.
Traffic Chief Linden Isles said that the accident occurred around 11.10am.
At the time, Chandilall was the driver of the Route 50 minibus, BRR 5478 while Wills was the driver of motor lorry GPP 9433.
Vaughn was heavily pregnant and scheduled to deliver soon. Angela Jacobs lost one of her hands.
Police spokesman, Jairam Ramlakhan in a press release said that enquiries disclosed that the mini bus was proceeding west along the southern side of the road when it experienced a ‘blow-out’.
As a result, Ramlakhan said Chandilall lost control and collided with the left front portion of the lorry that was proceeding east along the northern side of the said road.
When Stabroek News visited the scene, the aroma of beer filled the atmosphere and many persons were bustling to offer help to the injured. Approximately an hour and a half later, the owner of the truck and his relatives were going through heaps of broken bottles to recover bottle caps for insurance purposes.
Stabroek News was told that after the minibus collided with the truck, it spun around and came to a halt on the shoulder of the road.
As a result of the impact, the left side of the bus was smashed in and pinned at least one passenger in his seat. First responders told Stabroek News that they had to use a crowbar and make openings in a bid to remove passengers who were trapped in the bus.
Subsequent to the collision, the truck moved several feet from the point of impact and landed over a culvert.
As word of the accident spread across the villages and on social media platforms, a crowd congregated to peer at the gruesome accident.
A video of the scene showed six persons, including the heavily pregnant Vaughn lying on the road and parapet. While two appeared to be writhing in pain the four others were motionless. The minibus was completely wrecked and there was a motionless person in the front seat.
Persons could be heard on the video urging that 911 be called.
The truck was laden with cases of beers from Banks DIH, all of which were scattered along the roadway. The beverages which were worth some $3M were being transported from the company’s main office in Georgetown to East Berbice.
“Normal speed rate”
An eyewitness, Rishiram Bhandoo told Stabroek News that he was standing at the corner of the road when the accident occurred.
Bhandoo said both of the vehicles were proceeding at a “normal speed rate”.
“The truck been ah go Berbice and the minibus been ah come from Berbice going to town and the minibus get blow out….the first go off ‘boom!’ and then when he (driver) meet hay now (as he pointed to spot on the road), like the man mash he brakes and he run straight into the truck and then the truck lash am and spin am back ova deh,” Bhandoo explained.
“After the accident, everybody pitch out and lay down pun the road. After the truck hit he (Chandilall), he lose control and run ova the road tuh. Something happen to he (Wills’) steering when he lash the front ah the bus. He stop get steering and he run off the road,” Bhandoo added.
A resident Dave (only name given) said he was working at a nearby rice field when he heard the impact and rushed out to the road.
“Bodies all over the road, shatter all over the place. A girl hand over here wit she hand chop out, bleeding, hollering fah pain. People who were on the road weren’t moving, unconscious. Some looked pretty dead,” Dave said.
He noted that he immediately rendered assistance to get the injured persons to the hospital.
Meanwhile, another resident said she was in her house on the phone when she heard a “screeching” noise.
Like when you pulling brakes
“I hear the noise, like when you pulling brakes or something so I scream and run out because I know me two children them was outside so I thought he run in the yard,” the woman who wished not to be named said.
When she came out of her house, she said she saw persons lying on the road. They appeared to be dead already.
Following the deaths of Sealey and Vaughn, the Regional Democratic Council of Region 5 in a Facebook post said their deaths are a major loss to the health sector in the region. In the post they also extended condolences to the families.
Staff of the Mahaicony Public Hospital told this newspaper that the death of Sealey is a major blow to the hospital as he was a dedicated and committed nurse. They noted that he was always willing to pick up the slack and go beyond his duty to attend to the needs of the patient. They also described him as a humble and jovial individual.
At Sealey’s home, his mother, Wallie Sealey explained that she had just returned home when she received a call informing her that Keon was involved in an accident and he died.
“… I wasn’t sure like, I seh yuh know people can be false, right. But then I got like two more other calls saying it’s true,” she said.
Wallie noted that Keon worked on Tuesday night and was heading to Georgetown to run an errand when he died.
Meanwhile, the husband of Vaughn, when contacted told this newspaper he was too distraught to speak and asked to be contacted at a later date. “Right now I am not in the frame of mind to say anything. I am here trying to give my daughter a bath but I can say it is very hard to accept,” he lamented as he sobbed.
Vaughn was remembered “as a kind and caring soul and an important member of our family with a bright and promising future”, the University of Guyana Medical Students Association said yesterday in a Facebook post.
At the Mahaicony Hospital, Rubina Taylor, the wife of Reynolds had to be consoled by relatives as she broke down after viewing his body.
Taylor explained to Stabroek News that Reynolds worked as a bailiff at Courts, Main Street for a number of years. She said during that time he had a temporary residence at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.
However, recently, she added, he was transferred to the Mahaica branch. Taylor said Reynolds travelled to Georgetown yesterday morning to visit Plaisance in order to pack his belongings.
“…He already speak to the truck to go and collect the stuff. So he say he is going to call me and my son for us to go down and get the things them pack to come. He even walk with the spanner and so on to loosen up the bed,” Taylor said.
She said she was waiting for a call from Reynolds and became worried after time passed and he didn’t.”(I was) …waiting and I ain’t getting no call. I check the time and it was after 12. So I turn to my son and I say Travis is after 12 your father ain’t call yet. He said ‘mommy daddy going to call,’” Taylor added.
She said her son ended up calling Reynolds but got voicemails. “He seh ‘mommy daddy phone on voicemail’ and the other phone he ring cut off, he ain’t getting no answer from the phone and then inside I heard he saying ‘wah? Accident at Drill?’ Well since he seh accident, I go the verandah. I seh wah kind accident. He seh some accident and somebody say dad was in the accident,” the woman further recalled.
She related that by then her neighbour showed her his phone with some photos of the accident scene. “But looking at the phone I say this person looking like my husband,” Taylor noted.
“My husband dis dead. Who is going to take care of me now? He gone to work for his daily bread. We had breakfast together this morning and then he leave,” Taylor wept.
Maxwell’s son, Earl Thom told Stabroek News that his father, who is a retired soldier was on his way to the Guyana Veterans’ Legion annual Christmas luncheon.
According to Earl, the family only learnt of his father’s death while a friend was reading the news to him. “We only learn of his death this afternoon (yesterday). A friend was asking me if I didn’t hear of the accident and I said no and so he was reading the news to me and he called dad name and I said ‘that’s daddy name’,” Earl related.
Chandilall’s family said they learnt of the accident in a similar fashion.
“Persons recognize the bus and call us and then we went on Facebook and see the accident. But to tell you what happen, we don’t know. When we got to the scene everything was gone and the bus was so badly damaged we can imagine what happened,” Chandilall niece, who preferred to remain anonymous told this newspaper.
The woman said that the family is only receiving recounts of the accident from persons who went and rendered assistance to the victims.
“They just tell us after they hear the noise they come and help the people. We heard that he wasn’t speeding because a lady told us she had just gotten out of the bus just before the accident and my uncle wasn’t driving fast”, the niece added.
She stated that the accident has come as a shock to the family as they knew Chandilall to be a safe driver.
The last few weeks have seen horrendous fatal accidents which have raised broad concerns about safety on the roads and whether the police and government are doing enough to stem these.
