DEATH TOLL REACHES FIVE
– Six others remain hospitalized
A FIFTH victim in the horrific Homestretch Avenue smash-up on Monday night has succumbed, bringing the death toll as at last evening to five. 
That person has been identified as Erica La Cruiz, 18, of Sophia, Greater Georgetown and formerly of the Pomeroon. Meanwhile, the dead man who remained unidentified on Monday night was yesterday identified as Junior Duncan, 30, of 30 ‘B’ Field Sophia, a father of four children.  He was, at the time of the accident, on his way to Georgetown.
Pathetically, the 72-year-old grandmother, Mrs.
Da Silva who turned up at the Accident and Emergency Ward on Monday night, weak and nervous, looking for her grand-daughter, turned out to be Erica’s grandmother who was looking for her. She was accompanied by another cousin about Erica’s age.
The woman related to reporters at the hospital on Monday night that her grandchild had left the home earlier in the afternoon to pick up medication for an aunt who had been operated on last week. 
She said that after several hours had passed and the teen did not return home, family members became worried and, together with a cousin, they went to the GPHC after learning that there was an accident in the city that evening. 
But her initial enquiries yielded nothing. It was much later in the night that they learnt that Erica was, indeed, involved in the accident and was in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. She succumbed soon after.
The other persons killed in the horrific accident were: Coretta Benjamin, 39, Headmistress of the J.E. Burnham Primary School in Kitty, and her only child – Crizel Paul who had, on the same day, turned eight and was being taken by her mother to buy ice cream for a celebration. The other dead person is Peter Mc Kinnon, 28, of 975 Pattensen Housing Scheme, ‘B’ Field Sophia.   They all died while receiving medical treatment at the GPHC.
Among the injured, yet hospitalized are: 8-year-old  U.S-based Renissa Benjamin Moore, Crizel’s cousin who had only earlier in the day arrived in the country on vacation and was accompanying them to buy ice-cream; another cousin Delcia Paul of the same household; Peter Mc Kinnon’s two nephews – Michael and Anthony Latchmin; Keisha Thorneton, 22, of 460 South Sophia, a school teacher at Brickdam Secondary School;  Desiree Jamacie Archibald, 16; her brother Sean, 10 and sister Tattiana 3 – all of Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara.  Thirty-year-old Royston Garraway, also of ‘B’ Field Sophia, injured in the accident was treated and sent home the same night, as was a 79-year-old woman from Agricola, who was treated for trauma to the body.
Meanwhile, La Cruiz, who arrived unconscious at the hospital, sustained internal injuries and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit following surgery. It was during that period that her grandmother and cousin were searching frantically for her, but were dispatched by a guard at the entrance of the GPHC to the Accident and Emergency Unit.
She died hours later, without her grandmother or any other relative getting a chance to see her alive.  Yesterday morning the elderly woman was sent to the mortuary where, weeping bitterly, she identified her dead grandchild. Erica, who hails from the Pomeroon, had grown up with her grandmother from since age three.
And the three children of Security Guard, Shirley Richards, who was also searching desperately to find her children in the hospital compound hours after the accident, are all warded at the hospital, having sustained serious injuries. They are all in stable condition. Desiree Jamacie suffered poly trauma, and was admitted to the Female Accident Ward; Sean suffered a fractured skull and other head injuries; while their three-year-old sister, Tattiana, suffered head injuries.  The two are warded at the Paediatric Ward.
Eight-year-old US national Renissa Benjamin-Moore suffered head injuries and is a patient at the Paediatric Ward. She too, was in a stable condition yesterday. Her father, Roger Moore, on learning of her injury and other relatives’ death, flew into Guyana yesterday morning.
Keisha Thorneton who sustained injuries to her head and face and lost several of her teeth was suffering excruciating pain yesterday and was having difficulty taking anything by mouth.

Meanwhile, Royston Garraway, who was initially feared dead, turned out well and alive. He suffered minor injuries to the legs and was treated and sent home, after giving a vivid account of the accident. The driver of the minibus who was said to have suffered minor injuries to the eyes was taken into police custody. His conductor, whose name was given as Jefferson, is also said to have emerged from the wreck unhurt. 
The accident happened on Homestretch Avenue around 18:30 hrs on Monday, after a wheel on the speeding minibus reportedly ‘blew out’ and the vehicle toppled several times, eventually ending up on the hub. 
It was a virtual nightmare in the city as passengers were seen flying through doors and shattered windows and lay injured and helpless in pools of blood on the road which was littered with fragments of windscreens.   
Two fire units were hurriedly dispatched to the scene, as news of persons being pinned down in the bus reached the department. The work of the police and fire departments was assisted by several civic-minded persons on the scene of the accident who helped in rescuing the injured.