Two women killed as truck topples down hill
TWO women were killed and several other persons seriously injured after a truck laden with fuel and groceries toppled about two miles from Itaballi in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) yesterday morning. Reports said the lorry, carrying several drums of fuel and passengers, left Bartica for the interior but overturned while climbing a steep hill.
The driver, apparently, lost control after it started to descend because of suspected gear problem.
A young miner, Orland McKenzie, who was a passenger, said he jumped out after the vehicle began its uncontrollable descent.
He said his sister, Bernice, was left in the ill-fated truck with the other passengers and he watched, in shock, as it tumbled down the hill, with the fuel drums rolling out and down and crushing passengers.
McKenzie said he started to tremble as he thought his sister was dead among passengers screaming for help. But he found her trapped between some drums in a muddy area.
He tried to free her quickly while another woman, now dead, was crying and pleading to be rescued, too.
McKenzie said his sibling had a deep cut on her head and one of her arms was badly damaged. She was rushed to and admitted a patient at Bartica Hospital, where she received 25 stitches for wounds on her forehead, too. Her face is also swollen.
Meanwhile, the driver, reportedly unlicensed to drive that class of vehicle, is among those also seriously injured. His jaw is suspected to be dislocated.
It is reported that, of four women who were travelling in the truck, two are dead and one was transferred to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) in critical condition.
One of the deceased is known as ‘Dark lovely’ and the other is a 16-year-old (no name stated, either).
Police have travelled to the crash site and are investigating the accident.