TWENTY-THREE-YEAR OLD Torick McLennon of Zeskendren Mahaicony was killed on the spot early yesterday morning when the car he was driving slammed into a lumber laden truck as he negotiated a turn at Sahare Drill, Mahaicony Public road at approximately 05:30 hrs.

Four other persons were injured in the accident including the driver of the truck, with one of the four listed as critical after being dashed to the Georgetown Public Hospital shortly after the accident in an unconscious state.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday morning at the scene of the accident, one resident of Drill Mahaicony said that he was in his bed when he heard the continuous honking of the truck horn before hearing a loud impact.
He said that he looked through his window and saw the truck desperately trying to get onto the shoulder of the road even as the car kept coming into its path at a very fast rate with the windows up. Prior to that the man said that he thought the truck driver was blowing the horn on cattle which often occupy the roadway.

The man said that after witnessing the impact he rushed outside and saw the occupants of the car lying on the road while one was trembling, the other was asking to be taken to the hospital while the other two persons remained trapped inside the vehicle with the driver who already appeared dead and the passenger behind him gasping for breath.
Meanwhile, the porter who was sleeping on top the lumber which were packed in the truck’s tray said that he was awakened by the blowing of the truck’s horn and when he looked he saw the car speeding into the path of the truck even as the driver attempted to take evasive measures to avoid coming into contact with the car.
The Premio car PRR 8224 was heading east along the Mahaicony Public Road, while the Bedford truck GGG 1155 was heading west and apparently was travelling from the Corentyne area according to the porter.
The accident caused traffic along the Upper East Coast to come to a standstill for several minutes as persons stopped in passing vehicles to get a glimpse of the wreckage and the lifeless remains of the 23-year-old who was pinned in the vehicle by the steering wheel.
The Guyana Fire Service was informed of the accident and two fire tenders arrived at the scene, one from Mahaica and the other from Onverwagt West Coast Berbice. The firefighters used cutting instruments to dismantle the car in an effort to free the driver and the other passenger who were trapped in the vehicle.
Family members, mostly for the dead man, arrived on the scene and were overwhelmed with grief as well as friends and some other relatives of the other occupants of the vehicle who were all males. All the occupants of the car at the time were said to be friends and apparently had left their home village on Thursday night to party at the railway line at Plaisance.
There are those who are suggesting that the driver of the car fell asleep and the vehicle ended up into the path of the truck. When rescuers arrived on the scene and they began cutting the vehicle two beer bottles were discovered.
It was juts approximately 15 months ago that McLennon lost his mother who was a very popular head teacher in the community. She died after a brief illness and McLennon according to relatives was the only child for his mother.
The young man worked as a carpenter with his foster father and would sometimes use his vehicle as a taxi whenever he is not doing construction work or when he feels to make some extra money.
When this newspaper arrived on the scene the police were having the devil’s own job to exercise crowd control as many persons wanted to get a look at what remained of the vehicle that the young men were in and the truck which had major damages due to the impact.

(By Leroy Smith)