Minister within the Ministry of Education Desrey Fox was last evening admitted as a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) after she was pitched through the windscreen of her car following a three-vehicle smash-up in the city.
The Minister, along with a female passenger, Andrea De Santos and a two-year-old child Carlos Fox, who were also travelling in Fox’s car were all admitted to the GPHC. The Minister was admitted to the High Dependency Unit of the hospital, sources told this newspaper late last evening. She is said to be receiving medical attention for head and back injuries. The child was admitted to the paediatric ward and De Santos to the female open ward, hospital sources revealed. The female who was in the front passenger’s seat of the minister’s car reportedly sustained a broken leg and abrasions
The accident occurred at the junction of Vlissengen Road and Thomas Lands just in front the army base some time before 6:00 last evening; and involved the Minister’s vehicle, an ambulance and a taxi.
According to eye-witness reports, the Minister’s vehicle was heading in an East/West direction while the Ambulance, with sirens on, was heading south along Vlissengen Road when the ambulance broadsided the minister’s vehicle.
Following the initial collision, the car, PKK 8875, transporting Fox went into a spin and collided with an Apache taxi, HB 4065, which was on Thomas Lands waiting to turn on to Vlissengen Road. The ambulance ended up knocking over a traffic light pole.
Stabroek News was told by a witness that Fox was in the back seat with the child, while female was in the passenger side in front. Reports are that the impact of the collision pitched the minister out of the back windscreen of the vehicle. While the minister, the child and other passenger were rushed to the hospital it was unclear what became of the driver. However, reports were that he was still at the scene of the accident unscathed.
One man who said he witnessed the accident said, “all I hear is a loud bam and I see she [Fox] flying through the back windscreen.”
Meanwhile, driver of the ambulance, Eon Hamilton refused to comment when approached by this newspaper. The ambulance, PLL 9864, was heading to Haslington, East Coast Demerara to pick up a patient.
Giving his account of what took place, driver of the taxi, Gregory Douglas, 40, related; “The ambulance was heading south… with it sirens on. Everybody stop and I also stop. I don’t know if the (minister’s) car stop or was turning. I think it came from an east-west direction and the ambulance lash it and the impact lash that car into me. Then the ambulance crash into the pole next to the traffic light.”
Douglas said his passengers, a woman and an 11-month-old child were in the back seat. He said that they were “okay…she husband come and pick them up and carry she away.”
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene, the left side of the minister’s Camry was smashed in, the back windscreen completely shattered and papers of what some say was the minister’s speech, for an event she was to attend shortly, littered the ground. Behind the minister’s vehicle was the taxi with its front dented in and the ambulance was in front of the minister’s car with the pole of the traffic light sticking out. The crash bars on the front were hanging loose. (Sara Bharrat and Tiffny Rhodius)
