Two more dead on the road

TWO vehicular accidents within seven hours have claimed the lives of two men and have left four people hospitalised, police sources told Newsday yesterday. The dead have been identified as 19-year-old Che Andrews, of Bon Air West, Arouca, while the other man, said to be about 65, remained unidentified up to late evening. The four warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital have been identified as Ricardo Bryan, Keon Ward, Yusuff Abduf Salaam and Dion Virgil. In the Andrews road fatality, police said around 5am yesterday, the young man was driving his vehicle west along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near Peytonville, Arima. Police said Andrews, in company with Bryan, attempted to overtake a vehicle, driven by Ward, who was in company with Salaam. Ward’s vehicle was heading in the opposite direction. Andrews’ vehicle overturned and ended up on the southern side of the roadway, police said. After the smash-up, police said Andrews was discovered pinned behind the steering wheel of his vehicle, and had to be removed with the help of the Fire Service Department. He died on the spot. The three other passengers were rushed to the Arima Hospital, from where they were later transferred to the Port-of-Spain institution.

A report was made and a party of officers headed by Cpl Mohammed of the Arima Police Station visited the scene and conducted investigations. In the other road fatality which occurred around 10.30pm Saturday, police said the elderly man attempted to cross the Eastern Main Road in the vicinity of the TTEC Power Station close to a flyover. Police said the elderly man stopped on the roadway, and Virgil who was driving his Datsun Sunny motorcar in a westerly direction, attempted to pull away, and in the process struck the elderly man, who died on the spot.  Virgil had four passengers with him, but they escaped serious injuries. Officers from the Besson Street Police Station visited the scene and are continuing investigations.  District Medical Officers (DMO) Drs Emmanuel Hosein and Shurland Taylor visited the scenes, viewed the bodies and ordered them removed to the Port-of-Spain mortuaries. Their deaths have pushed the number of road fatalities for the year to 123 arising from 103 road accidents, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Mobile) Deochan Gosine said, later appealing to members of the public to obey the country’s highway code.