A Number 43 Village woman lost her life yesterday morning following a collision between two Route 63 minibuses.
Dead is Vidwattie Persaud, 43, called ‘Bedoo’ who was a passenger in one of the buses when the incident occurred in the vicinity Wellington Park Primary School, Corentyne, Berbice around 10.35 am. Nine persons, including a baby, were injured. Two persons, who were confirmed to be seriously injured, were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
According to an eyewitness Inzaman Hussain, 21, of Wellington Park, the crash resulted from speeding. Hussain explained that one of the buses was heading to New Amsterdam but had detoured to drop off a passenger who works at the school. He said while the bus was crossing back onto the road, a speeding “navy blue bus” collided with it.
According to the eyewitness, the navy blue bus was overtaking a truck and was unable to see the other bus. Hussain added that when the “navy blue bus” saw the other bus, the driver applied brakes but could not stop it in time given the speed he was driving at.
As the buses collided, he said, Persaud partially fell through the window of the bus.
He and other public spirited residents wrestled to help the passengers out of both buses, and Hussain related seeing cuts and bruises and broken bones. A baby, he noted, was also injured.
Meanwhile, when Stabroek News spoke to the dead woman’s 21-year-old son Vishnu Persaud, he indicated his mother had left home yesterday morning to go to the Rose Hall Town Branch Republic Bank.
He said around noon while he was “in the back dam” he received a call from his sister who related to him their mother had been involved in an accident.
When they arrived on the scene, Vishnu said, his family was told that an ambulance had rushed his mother and other injured passengers to the Port Mourant Hospital. However, when they got to that health institution, they were informed that his mother was transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital.
The grieving son lamented that upon arriving at the New Amsterdam Hospital they learnt that his mother was in the x-ray room. She was being transferred to the GPH, but succumbed on the way around 4 pm at Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.
Stabroek News learnt that the woman sustained broken legs and hip along with head injuries.
Her sister Meenwattie related Persaud’s purse with the money she was taking to the bank was missing along with her identification card.
The woman’s body is currently at the New Amsterdam mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Persaud leaves to mourn her husband, two daughters and son along with her siblings and other relatives and friends.
