Angela Jacobs, a Bygeval Secondary School student who is one of the survivors of the fatal Fairfield, Mahaicony accident that resulted in five deaths, says the driver of the minibus she was in had been speeding but no one said anything to him.
Jacobs, of Moraikobai, Mahaicony River, told Stabroek News that she was in the bus with her father, David Jacobs, at the time of the accident.
While speaking to Stabroek News from her hospital bed under the guidance of her aunt, she related that the passengers heard an explosive noise—from the blowout of one of the minibus’ tyres—which was followed by a screeching before the collision.
“I remember hearing a screeching and then the bus was going one side and I screamed and it crashed into the truck. I can’t remember anything after that,” the teen said.
One of her hands was severed and she also suffered multiple cuts and bruises about her body.
Angela said she was sitting behind the conductor’s seat with her father. Asked if she thought the driver of the bus, Seechan Chandilall, was speeding, she responded in the positive. “To me the bus driver was speeding but nobody didn’t say anything to him,” she said.
She noted too that while she was conscious most of the time she vaguely remembered what happened in the aftermath of the accident.
“I was conscious but I can only remember when I was being taken to the Mahaicony Hospital and being there. I remember them putting me in the ambulance… and reaching at Georgetown Hospital. I didn’t know though they were bringing me here,” she said.
While one of her father’s feet was fractured, he has been discharged from the hospital. When Stabroek News visited the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday, the other injured survivors, Cecil Gordon, 46, of Farm, Mahaicony and Sherlon Wills, 46, of Lot 30 Helena, Mahaica were not at the hospital.
The accident, which occurred just around 11 am on Wednesday, claimed the lives of Keon Sealey, 33, a nurse attached to Mahaicony Hospital; Alana Vaughn, 31, a second year medical student at the University of Guyana (UG) and a medic; Ewart Reynolds, 64 of Calcutta, Mahaicony; Chandilall of Lot 102 Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice; and Maxwell Disraeli Montgomery Thom, 76, of Lot 36, No.3 Village West Coast Berbice. Both Sealey and Vaughn are from Farm, Mahaicony. Vaughn was heavily pregnant and scheduled to deliver soon.
At the time of the accident, Chandilall was the driver of the Route 50 minibus, BRR 5478, while Wills was the driver of the truck, GPP 9433.
Police spokesman Jairam Ramlakhan, in a press statement, had said that enquiries disclosed that the minibus was proceeding west along the southern side of the road when it experienced a blow-out.
As a result, Ramlakhan said, Chandilall lost control and collided with the left front section of the truck, which was proceeding east along the northern side of the road.
When Stabroek News visited the scene, many persons were seeking to offer help to the injured. Approximately an hour and a half later, the owner of the truck and his relatives were going through heaps of broken bottles to recover bottle caps for insurance purposes.
Stabroek News was told that after the minibus collided with the truck, it spun around and came to a halt on the shoulder of the road.
As a result of the impact, the left side of the bus was smashed in and pinned at least one passenger in his seat. First responders told Stabroek News that they had to use a crowbar and make openings in a bid to remove passengers who were trapped in the bus.
A video of the scene showed six persons, including the heavily pregnant Vaughn, lying on the road and parapet. While two appeared to be writhing in pain, the four others were motionless. The minibus was completely wrecked and there was a motionless person in the front seat.
The truck was laden with cases of beers from Banks DIH, all of which were scattered along the roadway. The consignment, said to be worth $3 million, was being transported from the company’s main office in Georgetown to East Berbice.
An eyewitness, Rishiram Bhandoo told Stabroek News that he was standing at the corner of the road when the accident occurred.
Bhandoo said both of the vehicles were proceeding at a “normal speed rate.”
The truck been ah go Berbice and the minibus been ah come from Berbice going to town and the minibus get blow out… The first go off ‘boom!’ And then when he (driver) meet hay now (as he pointed to spot on the road), like the man mash he brakes and he run straight into the truck and then the truck lash am and spin am back ova deh,” Bhandoo explained.
“After the accident, everybody pitch out and lay down pun the road. After the truck hit he (Chandilall), he lose control and run ova the road tuh. Something happen to he (Wills’) steering when he lash the front ah the bus. He stop get steering and he run off the road,” Bhandoo added.
The last few weeks have seen horrendous fatal accidents which have raised broad concerns about safety on the roads and whether the police and government are doing enough to stem these.
Last weekend, the Guyana Police Force announced the launch of ‘Operation Safe Roads,’ which was to commence countrywide on Monday in response to the recent road fatalities.
