— including mother and sons in deadly Corentyne smash-up

FIVE persons died on the spot on Sunday in what has been described as one of the worst accidents in recent times on the Corentyne Coast.

The tragedy occurred after a driver reportedly lost control of his motor car and slammed into an oncoming paddy truck on the Number 59 Village Public Road, East Berbice, Corentyne, knocking the tray off.

According to eyewitnesses, around 13:40 hrs, motor car PPP 3394 was heading east when it dropped into a pothole and driver Dhanpaul Kishandayl, 38, lost control of the vehicle.

The car reportedly swerved, spun around and slammed into an oncoming truck GZ 2763, which was laden with paddy.  The force of the impact knocked the tray off the truck, scattering paddy on the roadway.

The five occupants of the car identified as Sabita Mangali 40, owner/proprietor of Sabita Immigration Services, Located at Maraj Building, Charlotte Street, Georgetown;  her two sons Emanuel Mangali, 18  and five-year-old
Ethan Ramjeet as well as her secretary and friend Reshma Seeram, 38, and Dhanpaul Kishandayl, the driver, who only recently returned from the U.S., all died on the spot, reports say.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the five were heading to the Number 63 beach.

Sabita’s address was given as Lot 2, Second Street, Bel Air, Geogetown, and the Guyana Chronicle understands that a few years back she had lost her husband in an accident.

Up to press time, family members were making their way to the Ancient County to identify the remains of their loved ones.

Eyewitnesses revealed that Sabita and her two sons were seated in the back of the Honda Civic and upon impact, she and the elder of her two sons Emanuel, were flung out of the vehicle.
Her younger Ethan was ripped in half with the upper part of his body ending up out of the vehicle.

The bodies of her sons landed in a roadside drain, while hers was on the shoulder of the said drain.

The driver, Dhanpaul Kishandayl and the front seat passenger Reshma Seeram were pinned down in the vehicle, and the fire service had to be called in to help remove their badly mutilated bodies from the wrecked car.

“I sitting down under the house and I see the car, this car coming through and drop in the pothole, then the car speed up and start swerve and crash into the paddy truck. The whole truck tray fall off and I see things flying out the car…. When I run out I see a lil boy in the drain and when I pick he up is only half an he I pick up all he guts and so fall in the trench. Them had a man next to he with a red shirt and I pull he out too but them did done dead…. Them had a lady on the ground next to the drain, all she clothes rip up and she did dead too.  When I reach the car, the two in the front seat did done dead; it look like them neck bruck but them pin down so we couldn’t get them out.  When I check the back seat I thought was somebody else, but was the rest a de lil boy body did pin down… the truck driver get blackout and did bleeding badly, so we pick he up and put he in the yard then a car come and them carry he way to the hospital. I did just start drinking and when I see all this, I tell me friends them I done,” said Tameshwar Narine, 31, who lives close to the road with the pothole.

The driver of the truck, who was identified as Doodram Singh, 30, of Number 49
Village, East Berbice, Corentyne was taken to the Skeldon Hospital but was subsequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he is nursing serious head injuries.

When the Guyana Chronicle arrived at the scene, there was a crowd trying to get a glimpse of the dead, while others lent a helping hand. Many broke down in tears as they saw the badly mutilated bodies strewed on the roadway.

Residents expressed anger, disgust and sadness that they have been asking for the pothole to be fixed for a while now, but the authorities have paid no heed to their call.

“You know how long now we asking the NDC [Neighbourhood Democratic Council] to fix this hole. Every couple weeks an accident a happen because of this hole; two weeks ago a lady brakes up fuh the hole and a next car slam in she car back; before that a car man get a blow out and end up in this boy (Tameshwar
Narine) kitchen damage up all he fridge and suh. Now look five dead, them
guh fix am now though, but them could a prevent this,” one eyewitness said.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident.