Dad of two is 171st road fatality

A 49-year-old insurance agent became the country’s 171st road fatality for the year, when a runaway car crashed into his car causing instant death on Tuesday night. Compared with the same period last year, 180 persons were killed in road accidents. Reports revealed that around 6.35 pm on Tuesday, Russel Gomez of Hermitage Road in Belmont was driving his car south along the Uriah Butler Highway in the vicinity of the Caroni bridge, when another vehicle driven by Ansar Ahamed of Curepe, which was proceeding north, went out of control. Ahamed’s vehicle crossed the median and ended up on the south-bound lane.

It collided with the vehicle Gomez was driving causing him to be pinned in his car. Ahamed’s car also collided with a white Mazda 626. Three persons in Ahamed’s vehicle were injured and treated at hospital. Officers of the Chaguanas Fire Station were summoned to the scene and Gomez’s body was removed. Fire officers used a special piece of equipment to remove the body from the mangled wreck of the car. The entire right side of the vehicle appeared crumpled. Traffic piled up for more than two hours as police officers and others removed the three vehicles from the scene of the crash. Traffic was later diverted from the intersection of the Uriah Butler Highway and motorists used the Old Southern Main Road to get to their destinations.

At Hermitage Road, Belmont yesterday, Lorna Mendoza, the sister-in-law of Gomez, described the father of two as a wonderful husband, loving father and a person with the most patience. She said that Gomez was on his way to meet with a client when he was killed. Gomez worked as an insurance agent with Guardian Life. At the house of mourning, Gomez’s wife and two children were in shock over the death. Mendoza said that she last spoke with Gomez around 5.30 pm on Tuesday and he was in a jolly mood. Gomez was a former employee of Tru Valu Supermarket. Funeral arrangements are yet to be finalised. Four persons were killed in road accidents between Saturday and yesterday.