A race on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) last night killed two persons and left several others injured after a minibus turned over and careened for several yards near the Demerara Distillers Limited Head Office and brewery at Diamond.
Dead are 19-year-old Shonica Alyah Edwards and Anthony Persaud, 18, of Lot 108 Land of Canaan, EBD.
The driver of the bus, according to eyewitnesses, fled the scene.
“Around ten something I was sitting on my verandah eating dinner and looking out when a car and a minibus come racing through. I don’t know if the car clipped the bus but the car speed away and the bus flip over in the air,” an eyewitness told Stabroek News last night at the scene.
The eyewitness said he heard a loud wail from a female and he dropped his bowl with food and sped out to render assistance.
“When I came out other people come and those who was coming up stopped too. About four of them looked dead already but two were moving and they took them to Diamond hospital … Nobody could find the driver because like he beat out,” he added.
At the hospital this morning, the mother of Edwards said she and her family were awakened from their beds at their Land of Canaan home to calls that the young mother of one had been killed in an accident at Diamond.
“I don’t know how she end up in town because she left to go to swim at Banzie pool. I ask she where she going every week to swim suh and leh she stay home with her baby. She say it was the last time,” her sobbing mother related of the conversation with the last of her eight children.
Other persons did not want to immediately speak with the press and some were checking on the fate of relatives they knew were in the same bus.
A number of police were both at the scene and the hospital. Several ambulances rushed to the scene. The road was littered with alcohol bottles, plastic cups and food boxes.
The bus, a Route 42 with licence number BXX 7256, was taken away by a police vehicle as a senior police officer informed that investigations are continuing.
The police today issued the following press release:
Date. 2021-07-18
Time. 22:00 hours
Place. Diamond Public Road, East Bank Demerara
Involving. Minibus #BXX 7256 driven by Kevon Moore MN age 23 years of Five Door Koker Dam Land-of-Canaan, East Bank Demerara and passengers.
Fatalities. Anthony Persaud age 18 years of Lot 108 Land Of Canaan, East Bank Demerara and Aaliyah Edwards of Lot 16 Land Of Canaan, East Bank Demerara
Facts. Enquiries disclosed from the driver of the minibus state that they were returning from the seawall proceeding south along the eastern carriageway of the said road at a fast rate of speed when he lost control of his vehicle which turned turtle several times and came to a stopped facing in a south-eastern direction.
As a result all passengers were taken out of the minibus by public-spirited citizens and taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
The two named deceased were seen and examined and pronounced dead on arrival, and are now at Carmina Funeral Home awaiting post mortem examination.
Jessie Wishart age 23 years of Lot 43 Old Road Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara; Joel Wishart, age 20 years of the said address; Odarry Gonsalves, age 18 years of Lot 192 Old Road Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara; Valencia George, age 18 years of Lot 80 Land Of Canaan, East Bank Demerara; Shane Argyle, age 17 years of Koker Dam Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara were all treated and sent away at the said institution.
The remaining passengers of the minibus were transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and they were further seen and examined by a doctor on duty and admitted patients in the Accident and Emergency Unit.
They are Sabrina Corlette age 18 years of Lot 186 Hyde Park, Timehri, East Bank Demerara suffering from an open fracture dislocation to right ankle and head injuries; Seth Abrams age 18 years of Lot 66 Schoonord, West Coast Demerara suffering from deep abrasion injuries to the right leg, Johnny Persaud age 17 years of Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara suffering from abrasion to the shoulders and back – they are all stable. Michael James age 16 years of Lot 29 Koker Dam Land Of Canaan, East Bank Demerara is suffering from head injuries. He is listed as critical.
Breathalyzer test conducted on the driver revealed he had 0.039 and 0.037 micrograms of alcohol in his breath.
He is in custody assisting with investigation.
