A super bike racer is dead and three other young men injured after the vehicle they were in was hit by a fire tender which was rushing to a fire that turned out to be a false alarm.
The accident occurred at the Demerara Harbour Bridge junction in Peter’s Hall on the East Bank Demerara (EBD) yesterday midday. The deceased, Vishram ‘Robin’ Lall, 23, of 217 Herstelling, EBD was also a miner. His 17-year-old cousin Mikhail ‘Kenny’ Lawrence; Richie Johnny, 19 and Rajendra Lochand all of Herstelling were with him in a black Honda Fit car, PMM 447, proceeding along the EDB and were all injured.
According to the Fire Chief Marlon Gentle, the fire tender, PMM 2166, was responding to a report of a fire on the West Demerara. The tender was approaching from the city and as it turned onto the Harbour Bridge road, it hit the Honda which had passed a line of minibuses that had pulled over on hearing the siren of the fire tender.
The Honda drove into the path of the fire truck and the impact was rendered the tender useless, while the four young men were pinned inside the car. The fire-fighters in the truck had to cut open the vehicle to take the men out. The matter Gentle said is now in the hands of the police.
The police said in a press release last night that they were investigating the fatal accident.
According to the police: “Investigations revealed that Guyana Fire Service Fire Tender PMM 2156 was proceeding south along the eastern carriageway of the public road with its siren on, and while turning into the approach to the Demerara Harbour bridge there was a collision with motor car PMM 447 which was proceeding north along the western carriageway.”
According to one eyewitness, a plantain chip vendor at the bridge, the truck’s siren was on but the car was in the middle of the road when the fire truck collided with it pushing it into the lane of traffic exiting the bridge.
Meanwhile, Lall’s father Omadatt Lall is upset over lack of transportation at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre (DDC). Lall and the other occupants of the car were rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre after they were removed from the totalled Honda.
But while Lall’s father is satisfied that doctors at the hospital did their best, he believes his son would have stood a chance if there was an ambulance to transfer them to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
“They had two broken down ambulance. They call Kuru Kururu and couple more other places before a GuySuCo ambulance save them…,” Lall stated.
The man said it was an hour later after being rushed to the DDC that the injured men were transferred to the hospital. “I even offer to let me drive or one of my driver but they say the ambulance nah work because of one hose clamp,” he added.
Lall succumbed while being treated at the Georgetown Hospital yesterday around 4 pm. His brother Vino Lall said that doctors told him his brother had internal bleeding along with an injury to the head.
Back at Lall’s Herstelling residence, his mother was too distraught to speak. With a dull look on her tear-stained face she was being comforted by relatives and neighbours. Outside, Lall’s father Omadatt said that his son was the last of four siblings.
Omadatt said too that his son was a member of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC). He rode super bikes and had been in the motor racing club for some four years, his brother Vino said.
Lall was described as an “easy going person” and the “best brother”.
Recalling the last moments with his brother, Vino said he and his brother along with the other injured men were at home working on a vehicle. “We were fixing a car and debating who was going downtown,” he recalled. “I was supposed to go with them and I said you guys go since I got a sick son.”
Vino said he suggested that his brother take his car. The men were travelling to the city to purchase spare parts and “go up de East Coast”. The car, Vino stated, was being driven by Lawrence. Vino said that Lawrence too is a member of the GMR&SC and would compete in the Group A category at race meets.
“He is one of the best drivers I know,” said Vino of the young man who was behind the wheel.
Lawrence sustained a fractured hand. Up to yesterday evening, the young man’s parents said he was awaiting a doctor to operate on the hand.
Meanwhile, Lochand and Johnny have been admitted to the GPH. The men worked with Lall in the interior, Lall’s father said. Both men sustained head injuries and according to Johnny’s father Ishwar Johnny his son had to be taken for a CAT scan before he was admitted to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Lall is the third person associated with motor racing to have died in a road accident recently. On February 7, popular city mechanic Errol Gonsalves died after he collided with a minibus, while riding along the public road at Farm, EBD. Gonsalves had been riding a Yamaha CBR motorcycle.
One day before on February 6, Raymond Ally a popular race car driver died after the car he was driving plunged into a trench near the Houston/Meadow Bank turn near Banks DIH. Jermaine Frank, 21, who was in the car with Ally also died.