A mother of five is among two people killed after a truck transporting persons into the mining areas aback Buck Hall, on the Essequibo River, overturned yesterday morning.
Dead is Stacian DeFreitas, 39, of Charity Housing Scheme, Essequibo Coast, and her partner, whose name was given only as ‘Kurt.’ He was said to be in his late 30s. Among those injured are Rohit Narine 38, of Perseverance, Edward Savory, 30, Tony Persaud, 24 of Adventure and Carlos Benn, 19, DeFreitas’ son. The injured and the dead all hail from the Essequibo Coast.
Savory and Persaud reportedly sustained serious injuries and were being monitored by staff of the Suddie Hospital, where they were taken late yesterday afternoon. Benn sustained injuries to his foot and his back; however he was discharged from the hospital last evening.
This newspaper was told that the truck, bearing registration GNN 1018 and owned by Persaud’s family, left the Buck Hall waterfront in the early hours of yesterday morning for the backdam. It was laden with mining supplies and rations.
The accident occurred around midday, when the driver of the truck was reportedly negotiating a turn along a section of the roadway more than 40 miles from Buck Hall and the vehicle overturned. DeFreitas and her partner were pinned under the weight of the vehicle, a relative of the woman noted. They both died on the spot.
The injured and dead were brought out of the area during the day to Buck Hall and were late yesterday afternoon transported to Supenaam. They were subsequently rushed to the Suddie Hospital where the couple was pronounced dead on arrival. Minutes after, the hospital was filled with relatives of friends of the deceased and injured as word spread of the incident.
DeFreitas’ mother Rita Prince told Stabroek News last evening that she received a call from her grandson, Benn, around 12:30 yesterday and he informed her that his mother and her partner had died. The woman said that she was shocked, “since me only see her and the man late yesterday (Monday) when they left for the backdam.” She said that it was her daughter’s first trip to the mining area, where her partner operates a land dredge. She had decided to travel there along with Carlos, who is the second of her five children.
Prince added that her daughter’s body was transferred to the Charity Hospital Mortuary last evening and she will be buried sometime this week.
Persaud’s relatives noted that the young man sustained “serious” injuries about his body, including head and shoulder injuries.
They said that the young man would usually travel into the area with the truck, which is hired from time to time by miners to transport goods and miners into the backdam. Persaud was in the theatre of the Suddie Hospital last evening, his sister noted.
There have been a number of accidents along Guyana’s interior roadways this year, most of which resulted in fatal consequences.
In June this year, three persons died on the spot after a truck which was transporting lumber along the roadway in the Matthew’s Ridge area toppled while negotiating a hill. Those who died were Leon Abrams, Trevor Abrams and Deon Baptiste.
In July, teenager Yasir Khan died on the spot after the truck he was driving crashed while crossing a bridge along the Lethem trail in the vicinity of Surama. And on September 13, Colin Pedro, 21, died on the spot after the tractor trailer in which he was travelling turned turtle along the Lethem trail.
Pedro, his brother and another man were travelling to Yurupukari when his brother, who was driving the tractor and who was reportedly under the influence of alcohol, lost control of the vehicle.
