A 47-year-old man died at the Georgetown Public Hospital last evening after he was struck by an out-of-control vehicle on the Vryheid’s Lust Public Road on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).
Dead is Chaitram Singh, a father of three of Lot 27, Vryheid’s Lust North, ECD.
Reports are that around 7 last evening a speeding Honda Accord motorcar was proceeding west along the public road when the driver lost control of the vehicle and collided with several cars which were parked along the northern side of the roadway close to a Chinese restaurant.
Singh who was walking home at the time, had moments earlier left his sister’s residence and was struck down by the out-of-control car whose driver tried to escape from the scene.
The man’s grieving sister, Jean Shaw told Stabroek News at the GPH that Singh had moments earlier left her home and according to her, another relative called the family and related that the man had been struck down.
She said when she arrived at the scene, a short distance from where she lived, the man had already been taken to the hospital while scores of onlookers gathered to get a glimpse of the scene of the accident. Traffic along the ECD Public Road was reduced to a crawl, she noted.
The man sustained mainly internal injuries while both his feet were amputated from the ankle and Shaw noted that several of his ribs were broken. Hospital sources told this newspaper that the man was being prepared for surgery when he succumbed to his injuries, around 8:30 last evening.
Persons at the scene noted that the man was walking some 15-20 feet parallel to the public road when he was hit by the car and it was noted too by relatives that the driver of the vehicle lived a few houses away from the deceased.
Shaw, who was being comforted by three other siblings and other relatives, noted that her brother spent most of yesterday at her home and according to her, he had planned to leave the city for the interior where he recently landed a job. She said that the man and his wife had separated and their three children, ages 11(a twin) and 10 lived with him.
Scores of shocked relatives and friends gathered at the man’s home last evening as news of his passing reach the area.
It was noted by persons at the scene that the young driver of the Honda motorcar was “racing” in the community earlier in the evening and according to an eyewitness, the man sped out of Broad Street, Vryheid’s Lust and turned onto the public road at a fast rate.
He said that it was during this that the man lost control of the vehicle and collided with four other vehicles which were parked along the roadway. A traffic policeman at the GPH noted that the vehicle may have spun several times along the roadway resulting in the other vehicles being hit from various angles.
He said that the driver of the car in question attempted to run away from the scene but he was later held by persons and handed over to the police.
Singh’s body is at the GPH hospital morgue awaiting a post-mortem examination.
