Owner of De Sinco, Frank De Abreu is in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and four firemen sustained injuries following a collision between De Abreu’s car and a fire truck yesterday at the corner of Lamaha and Irving streets.
Up to press time, De Abreu was being treated by doctors for head injuries. Also injured in the collision were firemen Marlon Wilson, 42, who sustained injuries to the head, neck and face, Jamal Alleyne, 23, who suffered wounds to his right hand and ear, Hurdley Holder who was hurt to his head, left hand and eye and Kwesi Pearson. Wilson’s injuries were the worst of the quartet and he was receiving treatment up to late yesterday.
The fire truck was heading to a bush fire at Coldingen on the East Coast Demerara when the accident occurred at around 10:20am. According to reports, De Abreu’s car, PHH 9488, did not heed the siren of the truck and did not pull over to the side of the road resulting in his car being hit. The firemen lost control of the truck and it ended up in the section of the canal between Vlissengen Road and Irving Street.
De Abreu’s car was wrecked and he and the firemen were rushed to the GPH where they were treated. De Abreu was immediately taken for treatment due to the severity of his injuries. He was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital, hospital sources said. Many relatives and friends turned up at the hospital and waited for hours as he underwent surgery.
At the scene, traffic slowed and passer-bys took photos even as the siren of the fire truck blared. It was later pulled out of the canal and appeared to have sustained major damage.
On the scene yesterday, Chief Fire Officer Marlon Gentle told Stabroek News that the fire engine had left the Alberttown Fire Station and was responding to a report of a fire at Coldingen when tragedy struck. He said he was told that the truck was travelling along Irving Street while the car driven by De Abreu was turning out of Lamaha Street into Vlissengen Road. “The fire engine slammed into the car as it turned in front of it,” Gentle said.
He said that four fire officers were on board and they were all rushed to the hospital and one is suspected to have suffered spinal injuries.
Gentle again expressed concern about motorists not respecting sirens of emergency vehicles.
“We have said it before and we can’t say it more that motorists do not respect sirens not just of fire engines but of ambulances and police sirens,” the fire chief said as many surrounded him and commiserated over the accident.
Many on the scene expressed shock at the distance from where the collision occurred to where the vehicles ended up. “The truck had to be going at a fast rate to push the car suh far and look at the car, it write off man,” one onlooker commented.
‘Wah you expect is a fire dem man responding to so they had to drive speed and if the truck had water dem man couldn’t just stop like that,” another responded.
Some stated that even though persons are supposed to respect the sirens, drivers of those vehicles should also be cautious and not just assume they have the right away. “But this AC [air conditioner] thing in the cars is a dangerous thing especially if they playing music and the windows wind up because by the time they hear the sirens, it does be too late,” one person said.
At the hospital numerous relatives, friends and associates of De Abreu turned up and waited as he underwent treatment. AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan was among those present and he said that De Abreu was a close friend.
“This is so unfortunate and from what I am hearing is that this fire engine was going at a tremendous rate. And they too must understand that they must not drive fast notwithstanding that their sirens are on…we can understand they were heading to a fire but still they have to be cautious and it was at a tremendous speed they were driving at. In any event our prayers and thoughts are with the families right now and we hope that he is going to pull through we understand that the best team of doctors are there,” Ramjattan said.
