Three persons, including two children, died yesterday afternoon following a collision between a van and a minibus which took place in the vicinity of the Mahaica market. Dead are 35-year old mini-bus driver Hafize Bacchus of Mahaica, and brothers Zakariyah Khan aged 5 and Ubaidulla Khan, aged 3, both of 35 Old Road Craig, EBD.
Meanwhile, eleven other persons were hospitalized with injuries, two of whom were said to be in critical condition including Arfeen Khan, the father of the two boys and the driver of the van. Khan is the principal of the Darul-ul-ulool Islamic school in Diamond on the ECD.
Twenty-two year-old Pooran Singh was also said to be in a critical condition.
The details of the accident are sketchy. However, according to reports Khan, who was transporting his wife Shelenza Rasheed and five children back to Georgetown from Berbice, had stopped at the Mahaica market to buy a broom, when the minibus, BGG 4345, collided with the van from behind. The impact of the collision caused the van to careen into a nearby trench. The accident victims were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where the two children where pronounced dead on arrival.
Bacchus reportedly succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment.
Samantha Marks, the common-law wife of Bacchus was in the minibus when the accident occurred. She said that there were seven people in the bus and that they had just moved off from the Mahaica station. It is unclear whether the bus was working at the time. However, she said the accident took place about one village away from where they lived.
The woman said she was sitting in the third seat with her daughter when all she heard was a loud impact. There had been suggestions that her partner could have been drunk at the time, but Marks denied this and said that her husband last consumed alcohol on Boxing Day.
Marks is in a stable condition, although she suffered injuries to her neck. She and Bacchus had been together for five years and they have a 2-year-old daughter. Marks was very concerned about her daughter, Shanaza, whose face she said “looked very bad.”
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Nafeeza Rahaman, who was a passenger in the van, told this newspaper that all she remembered was that the driver had stopped to purchase a broom when there was a sudden impact. The 12-year-old suffered neck injuries but was listed in a stable condition.
According to Bibi Fazeeda Khan, the sister of Khan, her brother had travelled to Berbice on Christmas Eve with his family to visit a relative and to look after some personal business. She said that he had told her they would be spending one day, however, when she tried to contact him over the last two days, she had been unable to do so.
The woman said that she received a call yesterday afternoon informing her that he and his family had been in an accident, and they rushed to the hospital. She was saddened at the accident and especially at the death of her two nephews, who she said were adorable children.
According to a press release issued by the police last night the accident occurred at Hand-en-Veldt, Mahaica.
The release listed those who were injured as Shelenza Rasheed, 36, who was treated and sent away, and Akbar Khan, 30, of Craig, EBD; as well as Nafeeza Rahaman, 12, and Isha Khan, 7, of Grove, EBD. They were all travelling in the van.
Those injured in the minibus, the police said, were Amantha Marks, 22; Sheneza Bacchus, 2 years 7 months; Asif Bacchus, 20; and Pooran Singh, 22, all of Helena Mahaica; together with Doreen Seenarine, 60, of Supply, Mahaica; and Anil Maraj, 24. Of Good Hope, Mahaica.
In the same statement the police repeated their call for motorists to use the roads with care and avoid speeding, and drinking and driving.