TWIN SISTERS DIE

In one incident, three persons including twin sisters Khertima and Khadijah Taylor, 18, and UWI student Kafiya Gill, 19, died when the car they were passengers in, crashed into the steel sides of a bridge in San Fernando during the early morning hours yesterday.

In the other incident, Chris Sookoo, 19, of Lange Park, Chaguanas lost his life when the car he was a passenger in, blew a tyre and crashed into a drain off the Uriah Butler Highway near the Divali Nagar site yesterday.

Twins Khertima and Khadijah — Form Six students of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando, Gill, Kenisha Garcia, 18, Akiton Derek, 21, and David Balkissoon had gone to celebrate the birthday of their friend Nicolette Jones at Club Metro in Gulf View Link Road, San Fernando.

At about 4 am, the twins, Gill, Garcia and Derek squeezed themselves into a Mazda 3 car driven by Balkissoon and left the club en route to their respective homes.

According to the police, Balkissooon was driving the car north when on nearing the Cross Crossing bridge in San Fernando his car crashed between two pillars near the bridge. The vehicle spun several times before crashing between the pillars of the north and southbound lanes of the bridge where it was lodged in a vertical position. The Taylor twins, Gill and Garcia were the back seat passengers while Derek was the front seat passenger. Supt Cecil Santana, Supt Huggins, ASP Jamsheed Mohammed and ASP Gaffar, visited the scene.

The Taylor twins died at the scene while Gill subsequently died at hospital while receiving emergency treatment. Both Garcia and Derek remain warded at the San Fernando General Hospital in a serious condition while the driver, Balkissoon of Pointe-a-Pierre was treated for minor injuries and discharged.

A crane had to be used to pull the wreckage from between bridge. District Medical Officer Dr Balliram ordered the bodies of the twins to be removed from the crash scene to the Forensic Science Center.

At the Taylor home in Jack Street, Marabella, friends, villagers and schoolmates packed the house. Many others lined the street and some were seen weeping on the roadway. The twins were known to many and were inseparable, friends said.

The twins’ mother, Desiree Waddell, held her head and screamed as she sat in the living room surrounded by concerned relatives and friends. She was too distraught to speak. Waddell, Newsday was told, is a fashion designer and make-up artiste.

She had sewn her twin daughters’ outfits for the birthday lime. Waddell has another child, a son named Dimitri, who is nine.

Donna Waddell, the twin sisters’ aunt, told Newsday the sisters were loved by everyone and were very close to their mother. She said not only were they very intelligent, but they had admirable personalities. Khertima and Khadijah had graduated from Form Five earlier this year and were Upper Form Six students.

“I last spoke to them last week Thursday when I came to visit. These girls were always smiling and jovial. Everyone loved them. They were special. Now they are gone and we all feel empty inside,” Donna said.

She said Khertima’s favourite colour was pink while her sister preferred purple. Waddell said she was not sure if the driver was drinking. “I don’t know what condition he was in at the time. I can’t say.”

Several social networking sites including Facebook were awash with tributes to the twins, testament to their popularity. Many users of the social networking websites, put up photos of the twins with messages such as “Gone too soon” and “Rest in Peace...you will always be loved.”

A Facebook page named, “RIP Khertima and Khadijah Taylor”, which was created yesterday had received over 10,000 hits (visits) up to press time.

At the Gill family home in Cedar Drive, Pleasantville, her father Desmond Gill, 49, was inconsolable. Gill said he last saw his daughter when she was leaving the house on Saturday night. “I knew where she was going. I knew that her twin friends were also going,” Gill said as he expressed his condolences to the Taylor family.

Gill, a taxi-driver, said this was the first time he had not made arrangements to pick up his daughter, something he always did whenever she went out to lime. “She told me, ‘dad don’t worry’ that Khadijah would be getting transport for all of them,” Gill said.

Gill said early on Sunday morning he received a phone call from his daughter’s mother Peggy-Anne, that their daughter was involved in an accident. “I’m just trying to gather my strength to try and get through this,” Gill said.

He said his daughter was a final year student at UWI’s South Open campus. She was due to start a job in the human resource department at the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA).

“She studied so hard. She loved her books. She was an intelligent and quiet youngster,” Gill cried.

In the other incident, Chris Sookoo, 19, of Lange Park, lost his life when the car he was a passenger in, blew a tyre and crashed into a drain off the southbound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway, close to the Divali Nagar site. Three other passengers were injured.

Carmona mourns

teens’ deaths

Speaking yesterday at a sports and family day function at his alma mater, Presentation College in San Fernando, President Anthony Carmona expressed his shock and sadness at the death of the four youngsters in the two accidents. Carmona also extended his deepest sympathies to the relatives of the accident victims and said that they are in his thoughts and prayers.

“I am heartbroken at the news that so many young people died in these accidents this weekend. I wish that God would give comfort to the parents, to the friends and to all those who knew these accident victims. It is a great loss especially as those who lost their lives were young people who could have offered so much to this country. To hear of twins losing their lives...it’s just tragic,” Carmona said when interviewed yesterday by Newsday.

Transport Minister Chandresh Sharma said the Government and entire nation were saddened by the death of the teenagers. Sharma said it was a wake up call for the Government, for parents, NGOs and the private sector.

Sharma added that his ministry has started an aggressive road safety campaign but added that the Government should not be the only agent of change in terms of making the nation’s roads safer.

The main causes of most fatal accidents, he added, are speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and speaking or texting on a cellular phone while driving. For the year so far, 79 persons have died on the roads.

The TT Police Service, in a release yesterday, also expressed sympathy to the relatives of the accident victims. The release stated that even more heartbreaking, the fact that two of the victims were siblings from the same family, is surely a pain no mother should have to endure in a lifetime. Police officers from the Victim and Witness Support Unit of the Police Service, would be dispatched to help counsel and support the families.