Girl 4, still hanging on to life

A FOUR-year-old girl was among ten people injured in Saturday’s Manzanilla triple-car smash-up which claimed the lives of two people identified by police as Aknath Basdeo, 22, and Sally Kistow, both of Tableland, police said.

The child, Cheyenne Chin Choy, of Jasper Avenue, Diego Martin, is at the Paediatric Surgical Ward of the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex nursing head injuries.  Both her legs were broken. A family member, Elizabeth Carmino, said the child is in stable condition. Elizabeth, 54 and her husband, Errol, 55, of Richplain Road, Diego Martin, were also among the injured. They were treated and discharged. Chin Choy’s great grandparents, Errol Toussaint, 64, and Barbara Assee, 68, also of Jasper Avenue, were also injured in the smash-up. Police said Toussaint is in an unsatisfactory condition with head and chest injuries, while Assee is said to be stable nursing chest injuries.  Both are at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH). Also on the injured list are brothers Jovan, 17, and Yanick Bartlett, 14, also of Diego Martin, Nikela Assee, 17, Basdeo’s wife, Racina Khan-Basdeo, 19, and Koman Maraj, 24, both of Tableland.

Khan is reported to be in an unsatisfactory condition at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, while Maraj and Yanick have been discharged. Elizath Carmino told Newsday from her Diego Martin home that they were all heading for Mayaro for the long weekend, which included Independence Day.  Khan and Maraj were in Basdeo’s car, along with Kistow, and they were not part of the team that was heading to Mayaro. Reports on the double-road fatality are that around 1.10 pm, Basdeo was proceeding in a northerly direction along the Manzanilla/Mayaro Road. Police said on reaching the 77.5 kilometre mark, Basdeo attempted to overtake a truck which was heading in the same direction. Basdeo, according to the police, then collided with a vehicle driven by Toussaint, travelling in the opposite direction.