Student killed in ‘Mash’ accident

ONE student of Skeldon Line Path Secondary school is now dead and eight of his friends are nursing serious injuries after the minibus in which they were returning home “clipped” a car that slammed into a parked truck and toppled at least four times before hitting a fence and coming to a stop on its sides.  The accident occurred around 19:00 hrs. on the Bengal public road in the vicinity of the Rambrich gas station.The dead boy had been identified as Nirvan Baichu, 16, of Crabwood Creek a Form 5 ‘A’ student of Skeldon/Line Path secondary school.
According to eyewitnesses the pink and white minibus was heading towards Skeldon and attempted to overtake a white Toyota Primo, but came into contact with the right side of the car pushing the car into a parked truck onto the northern side of the public road. The car hit the truck moving it from its position. The driver allegedly lost control of the minibus upon contact with the car and the bus flipped several times in the air before crashing into the fence of Lekha Rambrich and coming to a stop on its sides.
“I was standing a few rods behind my truck when I see a bus coming full speed. He try to overtake the car and push into the truck then topple couple well time and slam into the fence and stop. We rush over and start pulling the children out of the bus and put them in a vehicle to go Port Mourant Hospital”, R Singh owner of the truck said.
At the time of the accident the minibus had only students from Skeldon/Line Path Secondary and Tagore Memorial who were returning home from the children’s Mashramani costume competition held at the Albion Sport Complex.
When Guyana Chronicle arrived at scene debris of the vehicles, shoes, sneakers, books and backpacks were scattered on the roadways and the scent of fresh blood was in the air as hundreds of people converged on the scene to get a glimpse of the mangled mini bus and hoping that none of their relatives were involved in the fatal accident.
Many teachers, students and villagers were overheard talking about the tragic accident last year at Mahaicony where a teacher and several students died in an accident after returning home from a Mashramani competition.