Eleven persons were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) yesterday after the bus in which they were travelling was smashed by a container truck on the Coldingen Public Road, on the East Coast of Demerara.
Currently hospitalised are the driver of the bus, Navin Mazir, 27, of Enmore; the conductor, Shaveek Kadir, 27, also of Enmore; Shafeeza Ali, 63, also of Enmore; Sherry Badrinauth, 21; Kumarie Jainarine; Gaitree Basdeo, 42; her niece, Ashapreya Balsarran, 2; and Jean Harditwar, 33; also of Enmore.
Mazir, who was reportedly pinned after the accident, sustained severe injuries to both his legs and there were fears yesterday that he may have to have them both amputated.
Three other persons were treated at the hospital for minor injuries they sustained in the accident. There was no report of casualties up to press time, while the driver of the truck remained in police custody.
Madanie Gajraj said that about 11am yesterday she was at a restaurant just opposite where the accident occurred, when the driver of the minibus, which carried licence number BMM 5205, stopped to pick up a passenger at the corner of the road.
Gajraj said that a truck, GMM 381, which was carrying a container, then sped around the turn of the Coldingen Public Road and collided with the bus, which was about to go back into its lane.
“The truck [driver] appeared to have lost control because like he was already speeding and the corner catch up with him. All we heard was the loud horn of the truck and the horn of the minibus. After the impact the bus was smashed up with people hand and head deh outside windows,” Gajraj recalled.
She said that members of the public, including villagers, assisted with getting the injured to the hospital as fast as they could to avoid any casualties.
Yogesh Paul, a fruit vendor, said that he was attending to a customer when he heard a loud noise. When he turned around, he said, he heard the cries of people coming from within the mangled bus.
Paul said that the toddler was on the roadway after being pitched out of the bus on impact and persons ran to save her. “A woman jump out she car and pick up the baby because car was passing,” the man noted.
He said that for over twenty minutes he and others broke off pieces of the minibus to get the injured passengers to the hospital.
Shanta Ramotar, who is the owner of the minibus, said that about 11:15 am she received a call from a driver who informed her that her bus was involved in an accident and that the driver was pinned in his seat.
Ramotar said that she subsequently travelled to the GPH and saw family members of the injured.
Fazeela Hussain said that her son, ‘Navin,’ who was the driver of the minibus, may have to have both his legs amputated as a result of the extent of his injuries.
Hussain, who broke down in tears, said, “He tell me that he was picking up a passenger from the road and when he turn around to move off, he see the truck coming towards he but he couldn’t do nothing.”
She said that when she arrived at the hospital, she saw her son with his badly injured body, with flakes of metal within his skin. “When meh see him I couldn’t look because a set ah metal deh in he hand and face, but he gon can’t do nothing more for he self if they taking off he legs,” Hussain said.
Elsee Bassoo said that the toddler who was involved in the accident was in the care of her daughter, Gaitree Basdeo and they were heading to Mon Repos to visit a relative when the accident occurred.
“Somebody who was passing in car call me and told me that the baby was on the road and got picked up by a lady name ‘Sabrina Kissoon,’ who carried her to the hospital,” she noted, while adding that she was grateful to the woman who was passing in a vehicle and saved the child, who was lying on the road crying.
