The collision between a Lethem-bound minibus and a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) on the Hunt Oil section of the Georgetown-Lethem road resulted in the deaths of the driver of the minibus, Juliano D’Aguiar, 21, of Lethem; passenger Lalis Antone, 52, of Shea, Deep South Rupununi and three-year-old Brandon Grimmond of Lethem. Several persons, including Attorney-at-law Leslie Sobers and two British tourists were injured and air-dashed to the city yesterday afternoon.
Police last evening gave the time of the accident as 8 am, when the minibus BLL 4059 and SUV PKK 3942 collided along the Meterzeer Road (known as Hunt Oil Road), resulting in the death of the three. Fourteen others were hospitalized. The police said that D’Aguiar, Grimmond and Antone, whose name they gave as Elsie Henry, died as a result of injuries received.
Ten other passengers of the minibus, including Police Lance Corporal 16950 Wendell Caesar, received injuries and were referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after being treated at the Lethem Hospital.
The driver of the SUV, Vishal Singh, 28, of Crabwood Creek, received minor injuries. He was treated at the Lethem Hospital and is currently in police custody assisting with the investigations. Three persons who were in the SUV, including a British couple and a London-based Jamaican were also referred to GPH. Lucas Antone, the husband of Lalis is a patient at the Lethem Hospital.
According to reports, the minibus had swerved into the lane of the SUV, resulting in the collision. In the dry savannah trail, dust rises from passing vehicles, obscuring visibility, and a pick-up had passed the minibus shortly before the accident occurred. Eyewitness reports state that the minibus was speeding, raising its own clouds of dust. It was in this billowing dust that the vehicles collided. Immediately following the incident, the passengers of a few vehicles that were in the vicinity began an immediate rescue operation and managed to free most of the persons. Contact was made with the Meterzeer Ranch and the information was relayed to Lethem and several other vehicles raced to the scene. The injured were dashed to the Lethem Hospital, treated and referred to Georgetown for further treatment. Four planes were dispatched to airlift the injured.
The horrific accident shocked the border community, where the second annual Rupununi Expo had just concluded. The SUV was one of three vehicles that ferried tourists to Lethem through tour group, Adventure Guianas for the Expo. Budlan ‘Allie’ Persaud said that it was a three-vehicle convoy that was heading back to the city. He and his wife were in the first vehicle and he said that D’Aguiar’s bus, which is affiliated to the Guy-Braz Passenger Service, passed them at a fast rate, raising a cloud of dust.
He said that a short while later, they noticed that the dust cloud was stationery and the two other vehicles were not seen. Fearing something was wrong, the first vehicle turned back and came upon the mangled minibus and the crushed SUV. Persaud stated that the front of the mini-bus was smashed in and D’Aguiar and another passenger in the front seat were trapped. Caesar, who was also in the front seat, had managed to free himself. Persaud told this newspaper that D’Aguiar was still alive at the time but it was obvious that Antone, who was in the seat directly behind the driver’s seat, was dead. D’Aguiar was begging those on the scene to get him out and they attempted to do so but failed, Persaud recounted. He said that the lower portion of D’Aguiar’s right leg was cut off.
Persaud recalled that a Brazilian miner lent them an axe to see whether they could free those trapped inside the mangled vehicle but they were unsuccessful in freeing Antone and D’Aguiar. The minibus driver later died while still trapped. The other injured passengers of the minibus had to crawl through the windows to free themselves. They received lacerations about the body and there were some broken limbs.
In the SUV was Muneshwar Chunniman, 42, of Skeldon, who, according to the director of the tour company Moti Singh, was in the area to promote tourism. He said that he was told that the minibus swerved into the SUV’s path and it was going at a very fast rate when the collision occurred. Vishal Singh, the driver of the vehicle, escaped with minor injuries and was taken into custody at Lethem. A British couple and a London-based Jamaican were the other occupants of the vehicle. They were on their first trip to the Rupununi and had gone there for the Expo.
Antone, a housewife and her husband, Lucas Antone were returning to the Rupununi after holidaying in Bartica. Lucas is hospitalized at the Lethem Hospital. A relative, Wilfred Antone told Stabroek News that he had journeyed from Shea to meet them. Lalis was the mother of four.
At D’Aguiar’s home yesterday, several friends and relatives gathered. He had been driving the minibus for about six to eight months now. He is survived by his wife, Urmilla, two children — a five-year-old girl and a nine-month old boy — his parents, brother and a sister, who is studying in Cuba.
Reports reaching Stabroek News are that D’Aguiar had a driver’s licence but not one to drive a bus.
Grimmond was travelling with his mother, Florence Grimmond. He was rushed to the Lethem Hospital in a critical condition with severe head injuries. A hospital source told Stabroek News that his condition was so bad that he was rushed to a hospital in Boa Vista, Brazil but was pronounced dead on arrival there.
Four planes had been dispatched to the border community to airlift the injured and they arrived in the city shortly after 4 pm yesterday. Some were admitted to the hospital while a few were treated and sent away.
(Additional reporting by Sara Bharrat and Tiffny Rhodius)
