Death after beach lime

Sooraj Manphool was reluctant to go on a beach lime with his friends, but after persistent pleading, he left his Princes Town home and headed for Quinam Beach. Hours later, as they were returning home after the lime, Manphool was killed when their Datsun 180B slammed into a wall.

His two friends walked away from the wreck with only slight injuries. The fatal accident occurred around 7.45 pm on Friday night at M2 Ring Road, Debe. Reports said that Manphool was a back seat passenger in the vehicle, which was driven by Sookhai Heeralal, with Darrel Waite in the front passenger’s seat. As the vehicle hit the wall, Manphool fell onto the road, and was pinned under the vehicle. Manphool, 38, a Caroni labourer, died as an ambulance rushed him to the San Fernando General Hospital. He was married for 12 years to Waheeda, 32, and the father of two children, Tracey six and Hannah, eight.

Yesterday at their home at Solomon Trace, Cedar Hill, the father of the deceased, Goolcharan Manphool, 65, said he was told by villagers on the scene of the accident that moments before the crash the car in which his son was an occupant, was seen moving at a fast rate. Goolcharan recalled the last moments he shared with his son on Friday wheb his son returned from work at the Cedar Hills Estate. “He came home around 9 am and his mother asked him if he was going to church. He said that he was too tired, and we left him. When we returned his sister said that his friends kept calling him to go on the beach, but he did not want to go.” The elder Manphool said that after about five or six telephone calls his son eventually gave in and joined his friends on the beach lime. “My son was a good, hard-working man who was dedicated to his family. I don’t know why this happened,” the father said. Cpl Nagessar of the San Fernando Traffic Branch is continuing investigations.