Ten persons were injured yesterday afternoon after the truck they were travelling in crashed as it attempted to swerve from another truck near to Buck Hall, Essequibo River.
Injured are Handel Thom, 23-years-old of Nabaclis, East Coast; 58-years-old Charles Smithet of Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke Highway and his 42-years-old son, Trevor Smithet; Ashford Jacobs 40-years-old; Eton Bazilio 37-years-old of Kuru Kuru; Ryan Fitzpatrick; Ravindra Ramprashad 34-years-old and Brian Franklyn 49-years-old of Land of Canaan; 47-years-old Frederick Ashe of Madewini and Tyrone (only name given).
Thom, Smithet and his son, and Jacobs were among the five persons taken to the Georgetown Hospital where they were receiving medical attention up to press time and were listed as being in stable condition. The others were reported to be at the West Demerara Regional Hospital.
Some of the men sustained head, neck and spinal injuries while Thom lost three of his fingers.
A release from the Georgetown Hospital said that the men arrived at the Accident and Emergency Unit at 20:35hrs and were immediately triaged.
Two of the men were sent for x-rays and they are all in a stable condition and are being monitored the release added. Thom told this newspaper that he and about ten or twelve men were in the truck, driven by his boss, when the accident occurred around 3:30 pm. He said that he was in the tray of the truck with the other men heading to work when the driver of the truck attempted to swerve from the other truck.
Thom said that this caused him and the other men in the truck to be tossed out after it crashed into the other.
He said “We de coming down a hill and de driver try fuh swerve from one a dem wood truck or else all a we would a dead…I de sit down on top a motorbike in de truck… everybody pelt off from deh and I land on de ground and de bike come over me head.” The truck then toppled before it came to a stop, he added. They were then picked up and rushed to the Suddie Hospital after which they were transported by boat across the Essequibo River to Parika, then to the city.
Thom also stated that before the accident the truck had been experiencing mechanical problems with its gear box which they thought they had fixed and which may have contributed to the accident.
He said that the truck has been completely wrecked.
