ILL PENSIONER KILLED IN AMBULANCE CRASH

A 92-year-old pensioner who was being transported to hospital in an ambulance, suffered fatal injuries after the ambulance collided with a Lexus, Hilux and a Nissan Sentra at the intersection of Bamboo Junction, La Romain, on the South Trunk Road yesterday afternoon. It was the seventh road fatality within the past five days. Police said Clarence Blake, 92, of County Trace, Point Fortin, was en route to San Fernando General Hospital suffering from medical complications when, around 2.15 pm, the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) ambulance collided with the van.

Blake died on arrival at the SFGH after he was transported from the accident scene in an EHS ambulance. According to police reports, the ambulance, driven by Darsam Sieunarine, 27, of Ben Loman Village, Williamsville, was proceeding in an easterly direction towards San Fernando when a gold Lexus driven by a woman from St Joseph Village, San Fernando, who was proceeding south across the South Trunk Road, on the green light, came in contact with the ambulance. The ambulance, on impact, flipped several times colliding with a Hilux van, driven by Rabindranath Maharaj of Dow Village, South Oropouche and a Nissan Sentra B13 vehicle, driven by Bashaskar Persad of St John’s Road, Avocat Village.

Drivers of all the vehicles received minor injuries. There were two other patients in the ambulance with Blake: Deoraj Ramnarine, 35, of Buenos Ayres Village, Erin and Peter Khan of Sobo Village in La Brea. Attending to the patients in the ambulance were nurse Sylvia Gibbs, 58, of Aripero Road, Rousillac, and 25-year-old Neisha Haricharan of Ramkhalie Branch Trace, Barrackpore, a Point Fortin Area Hospital attendant. PC Lall of the San Fernando Police Station is investigating. Blake’s death is the latest in what has been a particularly bloody week in which at least seven persons, including a couple who were due to be married on Sunday, lost their lives in several unrelated accidents.