Trini woman killed in Florida

She was identified as Sarika “Sherry” Ramlochan, who lived in North Lauderdale, about three miles from the site of the horrific crash. Ramlochan celebrated her 25th birthday on March 16 and was engaged to be married to another Trinidadian, Sean Anirudhsingh.

Ramlochan migrated to the United States at age 19 and was a graduate of Coconut Creek High School.

The accident occurred on Cypress Creek Road near Florida’s Turnpike. According to the police, two cars ran a stop light and were travelling in excess of 90 miles per hour. Police did not release the names of the persons killed.

But relatives who gathered at the scene Sunday afternoon identified the female passenger killed in the accident as Sarika “Sherry” Ramlochan. They said they couldn’t provide names of the other four occupants of the car, but described them as friends with whom Ramlochan grew up in a North Lauderdale neighbourhood.

Relatives said she was on her way home from a party in Miami Beach’s famed South Beach.

Ramlochan’s sister, Shoba Siew, 29, told the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel that her sister celebrated her 25th birthday on March 16.

“She was 25 and full of life ... always the best dressed and the life of the family. I still think she’s going to come home and say, “I’m not in the car. Somebody took it.”

While Siew spoke, Ramlochan’s mother, Roopdai Ramlochan, 53, walked away from the tree that the car hit, sobbing. Photos and floral bouquets lay at the base of the trunk.

“It’s a big loss. She was going to be my wife,” said her fiance, Anirudhsingh. “She was a very caring person who didn’t have much, but gave a lot.”

The surviving passenger in the Volkswagen Jetta, in which four died, and the two persons from the second vehicle were taken to Broward General Medical Centre in Fort Lauderdale. Their injuries were not serious, the police reported.

A witness told police the two vehicles sped westbound on Cypress Creek Road from a stoplight at Northwest 31st Avenue. The cars crashed onto a curve in the 3500 block of Cypress Creek Road, east of the turnpike bridge.

“Speed was definitely a factor in this accident,” a police spokeswoman said.