THE Guyanese nation is still reeling from news of the shocking accident on the Burma Branch Road in Mahaicony (Region 5) that has left a teacher and six of her students dead.The teacher and six students of the Augsburg Primary School died by apparent drowning yesterday afternoon after the vehicle they were travelling in ended up in a canal along the Burma Road.

Those who perished yesterday are: Eight-year-old grade 3 student Justin Abel, seven-year-old grade 2 student Rayden Abel, 10-year-old grade 5 student Ayesha Abel — all from the same family; together with six-year-old grade 1 student Azidia Fraser, 10-year-old grade 5 student Atesha Woolford, eight-year-old grade 2 student Martina Persaud, and their teacher, Senior Mistress Shondel Duke.

This newspaper has learnt that the children and their teacher had traversed the Burma Road from their school to attend a Mashramani activity that had taken place at the Novar Primary School yesterday morning, and were returning home when disaster struck.

The parents of one of the children who perished in the accident had reportedly loaned the teacher the vehicle to take the children to the Mash activity, since getting transportation from their point of origin is usually difficult.

It is surmised that the teacher lost control of the vehicle on the Burma Road because the road is presently under extensive rehabilitation and features loose pebbles and stones which make it hard for some motorists to control their vehicles.

One relative said they received word that the vehicle was involved in an accident, and when they arrived on the scene, they saw a lot of persons gathered and were greeted with the news that the six children and the teacher had all perished in the accident.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the Mahaicony Hospital late yesterday afternoon, hundreds of villagers and numerous regional officials had gathered at the facility to mourn the loss, while others sought to get a glimpse of the remains of the children and their teacher.

The children, lying in the Mahaicony Hospital mortuary, were still clad in the costumes in which they had performed before leaving the celebration to return to their school.

As news of the tragedy spread, Education Minister Priya Manickchand and Transport Minister Robeson Benn travelled to the community and met with residents and relatives of the deceased at the Mahaicony Hospital, where they were told the people’s concerns about the state of the road and were reminded that, only two weeks ago, residents had called for immediate repairs to be done to critical stretches of the Burma road.

Minister Benn reminded the residents that rehabilitation works were ongoing on the road, and told reporters that he visits the road and supervises the works frequently. He even pointed out that at one point he was accompanied to visit the road by His Excellency President Donald Ramotar.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand was observed embracing and comforting relatives of those who had perished in the accident before she spoke with the media. At one point she was moved to tears as she listened to a relative detail the ordeals leading up to them approving the children to travel out from their school to participate in the Mash events.

Minister Manickchand told reporters that the school from which the children came sports a population of fifteen children and three teachers. She said that one teacher supervising six children was not a breach of the standard operating procedures of the Ministry of Education which governs the teacher/child ratio.

The Minister explained that today, Saturday, Education officials will be visiting the homes of all the persons who had perished in the accident, even as she made commitment to ensure that the school is visited by councillors on Tuesday, so that teachers and students can be guided and assisted in getting over the tragic loss of their colleagues and peers.

It was observed that the Mahaicony Hospital faced a challenge last evening to produce body bags in which to place the remains of the dead. At one point, the sight of the children lying dead in the mortuary became so overwhelming for those who had forced their way into the morgue that Transport Minister Robeson Benn had to order the undertakers and police to cease the activities until the hospital staff could secure sheets to cover the remains of the children before they were placed in a hearse, since there was only one body bag available, and that was used for wrapping the adult. The newspaper also understands that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds also visited the Mahaicony area last night.

(By Leroy Smith)