Two die in Claxton Bay accidents

TWO MEN returning to their respective homes in Claxton Bay were killed in unrelated vehicular accidents within the space of nine hours between Thursday evening and early Friday morning. Both men lost control of their vehicles and ran off the road. Dead are Ramnarine Lalman, 48, a crane operator of Cedar Hill Trace, and Curtis Ramdass, 25, a fisherman of Lodge Ali Extension. Two other persons who were passengers in the vehicles, remain warded in  critical condition at San Fernando General Hospital. In the first incident, at around 6.30 pm on Thursday, Lalman, a father of three, employed with CAD Services Ltd, was proceeding south along the Solomon Hochoy Highway in his blue Mazda 626.

On reaching Springvale, he reportedly lost control of the car which ran off the highway and crashed into a steel barrier. The car spun around and slammed into a white Laurel, driven by Felix Wiseman, 60, of Springvale. On impact, the front seat passenger in the Mazda — Dianan Ramjattan, 42, of St Margaret’s Village — was thrown out of the vehicle and landed on the median of the highway. Lalman was pitched through the rear windscreen and landed on the front windscreen of Wiseman’s car. Lalman died on the spot. Ramjattan was rushed to hospital and admitted to Ward Four, while Wiseman sustained only minor injuries. Struggling to hold back tears, Lalman’s wife Betty, 49, said her daughter, Meera, 17, was the last person to speak with her husband on Thursday morning. “She made sure and packed his lunch before he left. He always wanted us (family) to remain close to each other,” Betty cried. She said they were yet to make funeral arrangements.

In the other incident, Curtis Ramdass, a father of three, died around 4.25 am Friday when he lost control of his white Toyota Corolla along Sum Sum Hill Road. He reportedly slammed into a woman, who was walking on the side of the road, crashed into a lightpole and then collided with a wall. Ramdass, who was pinned behind the steering wheel, was pronounced dead on arrival at San Fernando General Hospital. The woman, Bena Ramsaran, 35, of Cedar Hill Trace, was seriously injured and remains warded in critical condition. Describing Ramdass as a father to everyone in the village, his mother-in-law, Judeth Phillip, 42, said around 4 am he called her daughter, Stacy Ann, and told her he was on his way home. “Half an hour later he was dead,” she cried.

Phillip said Ramsaran and her daughter Stacy Ann shared a common-law-relationship and had three children — Nicholas, 4, Christopher, 3, and Emmelio, 2. She said Ramsaran and her daughter were planning their marriage, when tragedy happened. With tears streaming down her face, the woman said Stacy Ann went to visit Ramdass’ relatives in Arima to make funeral arrangements, since Ramdass had always said he wanted his mother to make his funeral arrangements if ever he died before her. Couva police are investigating both accidents.