Man loses leg in Tobago smash-up

Yesterday, just one day before he celebrated his forty-first birthday, a Tobago man lost his left leg following a vehicular accident on the Claude Noel Highway.

Andre Warner of Highland, Moriah had to undergo emergency surgery at the Scarborough Regional Hospital to reattach the leg that was amputated just below the thigh area.

According to reports, at about 2.10pm Warner was a passenger in a three-tonne Mazda pick-up truck which was loaded with building materials and travelling west along the Claude Noel Highway in the vicinity of the Orange Hill traffic lights, when the driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle and crashed into an iron rail on the left side of the road.

Warner’s leg was said to have been severed on impact while the driver, Solomon Makoul, suffered only minor injuries.

Both men were transported to the Scarborough Regional Hospital and the severed leg was removed from the scene a short while later by fire officials and taken to the hospital for reattachment.

Up to press time Warner was still undergoing surgery and an official told Newsday that it was not certain whether he would have to be transferred to Port-of-Spain.

He is the second person to have lost a limb in a vehicular accident for the year.

Earlier this year, Roland Moses of Lambeau, a driver employed with the THA, lost his right hand when he was involved in an accident at the Buccoo Junction.

He was flown to Port-of-Spain where his arm was amputated during an emergency surgery.