Two young men died early this morning after the car they were in plunged into a trench near the Houston/Meadow Bank turn.
According to reports, around 1:30 am 21-year old Jermaine Frank, a fitter mechanist and his best friend 26-year old Raymond Ally, both of Friendship on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD), died on the spot after the car the duo were travelling in ended up in a trench outside the Banks DIH complex.
According to an eyewitness, he was sitting on a bridge close to the scene early this morning when he observed two cars “speeding pass” him. He said that one of the cars hit the other and ended up in the trench and according to him, one of the vehicles may have hit a culvert close to where he was sitting before the collision.
The two young men were reportedly trapped in the car, a Nissan sedan which bore licence number, PJJ 3945 for close to 30 minutes before they were rescued by public-spirited citizens.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene shortly after 3:30 am today, the men’s relatives with the assistance of public-spirited citizens were in the process of pulling the wrecked car out of the trench. The vehicle was completely submerged in the trench, and a relative noted that “it completely write off”. The car was later towed to the Ruimveldt Police Station where police officers inspected it as they conducted their investigations.
Ally’s parents would only confirm that the young man and his friend had died as other relatives looked at the badly damaged car in disbelief.
At Frank’s home at Lot 41 Lil Audrie Housing Scheme, Friendship, the mood was sombre as his siblings and numerous friends gathered to prepare for a wake as well as to lend support to his grieving parents. His father Allan Frank told Stabroek News that he had not moved from the chair he was sitting in since he received the dreadful news of his son’s passing early this morning.
He said that his son left the family’s home around 8:15 pm last evening “to meet up with Raymond since the two were best of friends”. He said that his son only stated that he was accompanying his friend to a function at Herstelling, also on the EBD. The grieving man stated that sometime after 2 am today, he received a “strange” phone call, the person on the other end of the line stated that his son, one of four children, was involved in an accident and that he might have died. He said a while later, a police rank from the Ruimveldt Police Station confirmed the dreaded news on his son’s passing.
According to the man, another relative visited the police station later this morning and was told that the car was travelling at a fast rate when the driver lost control of the vehicle at the Houston/Meadow Bank turn.
He said he was told by persons at the scene that the young men were “drinking earlier at the baby 9-day at Herstelling”. He said that Ally and Jermaine had been friends for years and according to him, his son was working towards qualifying himself in the field of engineering. The young man, who is a past student of the Government Industrial Training College (GITC), was employed as a fitter machinist at an engineering firm across the road from where the family lives.
His distraught father stated that he repeatedly warned his son about “going to these nightclubs because they would drink and I never too like that”.
Ally’s relatives were mum when contacted during the day but Stabroek News understands that the young man was a popular race car driver who featured regularly at events at the South Dakota Circuit.
There have been a number of road accidents since the year began and the police traffic department has been urging motorists to exercise caution when driving along the roads. On January 1 this year, 30 year old Mark Seecharan was killed after he was struck down by a motor car while he cycled along the Good Hope, East Coast Demerara (ECD) Public Road with his wife in tow. His wife survived the accident while the driver of the car is presently before the courts.
And last Tuesday, two persons met their demise following separate road accident at Victoria on the ECD and at Sarah Johanna on the EBD. Andrew Hanover, 45 of Victoria, ECD was struck down by a motor car as he walked along the public road close to his home while 20-year old Vishan Seeram died after the driver of a minibus he was travelling in lost control of the vehicle and it subsequently slammed into an electricity pole.
