Freeport crash claims second victim

A 20-year-old accounting student who was among six persons injured in a two car smash up in Freeport Wednesday, has died at hospital.

Mark Lee Wong How, of Main Road, Mamoral, who sustained severe head injuries,  resulting in brain haemorrhaging, died around 4 am yesterday at the Port-of-Spain  General Hospital. Investigators said the other victims of the accident, Yuri Toolsie, 20, of Couva, the driver of one of the vehicles; Ronako Banister, 20, of Couva North and David Brewster, of Pleasantville, are all listed in a critical condition.

When Newsday visited Wong How’s home yesterday his mother, Theresa Wong How, had to be consoled by relatives and friends. The distraught woman and her husband, Manswell, declined to speak with the media. However neighbours, who were busy putting up tents for the wake, described the deceased as a “good and quiet boy.” One neighbour said Wong How was an acolyte at the village’s RC church and was attending the School of Accounting and Management at St Augustine.

In the accident, which occurred around 9.20 am, Yuri Toolsie, was driving on the south bound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway. Wong How was seated in the front passenger seat and another friend, Bannister, was in the back seat. About 200 metres from the Freeport off-ramp, Toolsie attempted to overtake a car and lost control. His car crashed into the median, went up into the air and landed upside down on a B-14 Sentra, on the northbound lane, which was being driven by taxi driver Glen Dickson, 36. Wong How, was trapped in the vehicle and had to be assisted by a passersby. A back-seat passenger in the taxi, Indrani Rampersad, who was also an accounting student, suffered massive head injuries and died on the spot. Cpl Satnarine is continuing investigations.