Relatives of the two victims of the Friendship, East Bank incident in which a transformer rolled off a truck and hit a minibus are still searching for answers.
Although the Guyana National Industrial Corpora-tion (GNIC) whose truck was transporting two Guyana Power and Light (GPL) transformers when the tragedy occurred has said that it is not at fault it has vowed to help the victims.
Speaking to Stabroek News recently, Vanessa, the daughter of Kenneth Welch who succumbed last Sunday night to the injuries he sustained said that GNIC had contacted them and helped with the funeral.
Asked how they intend to deal with this matter, Vanessa said in a saddened voice “We will look at that later. Right now I just want to put him down (bury him) first”.
She described her father as an all rounder and noted that he was a member of the Ituni policing group. Welch leaves to mourn three children and nine grandchildren.
Meanwhile Michelle Sealey, the mother of Trevor Charles’ (the other victim) two children said that they have not decided fully what action will be taken but she will speak with the family and together they will decide the next step.
According to Sealey no GNIC official had made contact with them or helped with the funeral expenses.
Three Fridays ago, just before 3 pm, the GNIC low-bed truck was transporting two of GPL’s transformers to the Garden of Eden site for another shipping company, when as it came off a steep turn, the two transformers fell off. One rolled onto the roadway and into the thick bush on the parapet and the other hit the driver’s side of the minibus Charles was driving, before coming to rest a few feet away. The bus was headed to Georgetown from Linden.
Charles, 41, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and several injured persons including four Welch family members – Kenneth, 66, and his three grandchildren, Romanio and Robert, both age eight years old and seven-year-old Rianna were transferred from there to the Georgetown Hospital. The driver of the GNIC truck was arrested but later released.
The Welch family members were admitted to the open ward having suffered broken limbs but Kenneth’s condition began to deteriorate and he was transferred to the Hugh Dependency Unit (HDU).
Last week Friday his condition took a turn for the worse when he lost consciousness. He was immediately transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and placed on life support.
A CT scan that was done earlier determined that the elderly man had not sustained any head injuries and doctors had given the relatives conflicting reasons as to why he lost consciousness.
A GNIC official told this newspaper several days after the incident that the company was not at fault over the incident, but would offer assistance to Charles’s relatives and the survivors. GPL told this newspaper after days of trying to get a comment that they would not comment until the police have completed their investigations.
GNIC’s Chief Executive Officer Clinton Williams told this newspaper that his company was merely doing DSL (a subsidiary of Demerara Distillers Limited – DDL) Shipping Wharf, a favour.
He explained that a shipment of GPL transformers arrived at that company’s wharf and was transported to Sophia. Two were left on the container truck since they had to be transported to GPL’s Garden of Eden site.
According to Williams, after hours of trying to move the truck his company was called to lend assistance and did so.
It is unclear which of the companies carried insurance to cover accidents of this type.
