Truck crashes into Morvant home

TWO MEN were injured and a young woman left homeless after a loaded three-tonne delivery truck crashed into a house at Geranium Drive, Coconut Drive, Morvant yesterday. The two men were up to late yesterday warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) nursing serious injuries sustained in the accident. Reports stated that around 12.05 pm yesterday, a three-tonne truck from Bhagwansingh’s Hardware was making a delivery at Geranium Drive, Morvant, when the driver Azad Mohammed, 52, of Southern Main Road, lost control of the vehicle. He was in the compnay of Winston Kalien of San Raphael. The three-tonne truck was proceeding south along Geranium Drive Extension, when Mohammed reportedly tried to apply brakes, but did not get any response. Mohammed lost control of the truck, which drove about 300 yards down Geranium Drive, crashing into a recently constructed concrete house owned by Avalon Pritchard.

The vehicle then flew off an embankment, landing about 40 yards from the point of impact, before smashing into an electricity pole and an empty white Toyota Crowne, which was parked on the side of the road. The impact, caused a blackout of electricity throughout Geranium Drive. Residents of Geranium Drive came to the rescue of the two men and had to extract Mohammed, who was pinned behind the steering wheel of the vehicle. Kalien was thrown through the windscreen and is said to have suffered serious facial and head injuries, while Mohammed received body injuries. Both men were rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital via an Emergency Health Services (EHS) ambulance. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Pritchard said that she is very fortunate to be alive today. She said she was at home for the entire morning and decided to go into PoS just before lunch-time to conduct some business. She said she locked her newly constructed home, which consisted of living quarters and a garage, and went into POS. When she returned, she found her house completely destroyed, with her entire roof resting in the road to the bottom of the embankment where she lived.

She said that although she is very happy to be alive today, she is wondering where she is going to live now that her home has been destroyed. Pritchard said that she tried to find out from the Bhawansingh representative what they were going to do to assist her with her living arrangements, but he told her that he was not the person to deal with the situation, and that someone from the company would call her. She said, “I lost everthing I had in there. “My television, my radio, stove and my home. Everything gone. Now I have to start all over,” stated Pritchard. Owner of the white Toyota, Legon Robinson, stated that he was doing some business in a bank in PoS when he received the news of the accident. He said he rushed home to find that his car was completely smashed by the delivery truck. He said he is still awaiting some word from the company on the damage done to his vehicle. Cpl Roy of the Morvant Police Station is continuing investigations into the accident.