Two young men died on Wednesday night after their car crashed into a coconut tree along the Fort Wellington Public Road and then exploded.
Dead is Danny Ross Dunraj, 22, of Chester Village, West Coast Berbice, and Kelvin Atherly-Ward, also known as ‘Ajay,’ 23, a labourer, of Britannia Village, West Coast Berbice. Another youth, Permanand Arjune, also known as ‘Ajay,’ 16, of Chester Village, West Coast Berbice, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was rushed to the Fort Wellington Public Hospital minutes after the accident. He has since been transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where his condition is listed as serious.
Arjune, who sustained a fractured rib and burns to his legs, hands and back, underwent emergency surgery yesterday afternoon. “He hand where get burn swell up and them doctor say them got to do surgery to burst it and make the blood flow or he can lose he hand,” his father, Ramdass Arjune, 44, related yesterday.
According to information gathered, the three youths were returning from Bath, West Coast Berbice and the car in which they were travelling, a black Nissan Blue Bird, bearing licence plate number PVV 7792, toppled multiple times, then collided into a coconut tree, after which it exploded.
The accident occurred just after 10 pm.
According to a Guyana Fire Service source, when firefighters arrived at the scene they found the entire car engulfed in flames and the deceased were trapped inside. He said it appeared as though they became unconscious due to the impact from the collision.
The senior Arjune explained that he had a chance to speak with his son in the ambulance while he has being transferred from Fort Wellington Hospital yesterday morning. He said his son told him that they were all playing pool at a shop in Bath and then decided to head home. “He don’t know what happen really,” the man, however, noted. “He say he pitch out from the car and fall next to it so the heat and fire catch he and he start holla and people run go and it had a lil hole with water them tell he graze and go there and when the fire out them carry he to Fort [Wellington] Hospital,” the father explained.
The man noted that he is worried that his son’s condition may worsen since he had been crying out over intense pain
Meanwhile, it is suspected that Dunraj was driving the car, which reportedly belongs to his sister. The young woman, Nadia Dunraj, told Stabroek News that her family was unable to give an interview since they were still trying to come to grips with the events which led to the death of her brother.
She said her brother, who is a rice farmer, was engaged and expected to wed in August. His cousin described him as a very “loving and helpful person.”
Meanwhile, family friends of Atherly-Ward said he was a very hardworking and helpful young man. According to Nadia, Atherly-Ward grew up with her brother and has been a part of her family for all his life.
Stabroek News was told that while Dunraj and Arjune are cousins, all three youths were known to be good friends and would often hang out together.
