A FIFTEEN-year-old unlicensed driver was killed on Wednesday morning after the ‘four-runner’ vehicle he was driving slammed into a parked vehicle on the Crabwood Creek, Corentyne Road, before catapulting into a nearby trench.. His lone passenger, who, incidentally, is his sixteen-year-old friend, is at the New Amsterdan Hospital in a critical condition . Dead is Akash Mohan of Number 72 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, who is alleged to have taken the vehicle without the owner’s permission moments before the accident, reportedly around 03:30h.

Eyewitnesses are of the opinion that the teenage driver lost control of the vehicle, after he hit a heap of stones on the roadway, in an attempt to escape from what he believed to be a police vehicle.
A lengthy skid mark left on the roadway gave the impression that after driving over the stones, the lad applied brakes, but the vehicle skidded across the road and slammed into the Ford ‘pick-up’ parked there, the impact pushing it about fifteen feet as the ‘four- runner’ continued on, with both driver and passenger still on board.
Thereafter, the ill-fated vehicle reportedly collided with a bridge about 25 to 30 feet away, resulting in heavy damage to the front tyre and wheel of the vehicle.
Still on the move, the ‘four-runner’ catapulted over a trench, uprooting a sign-post, and shattering a utility post , before turning turtle and throwing its occupants out before colliding with, and damaging a concrete fence, where it halted.
The teenagers, who were by this time unconscious, were subsequently picked up and taken to the Skeldon Hospital, where Mohan was pronounced dead on arrival.
His friend, however, was transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he remains institutionalized, having sustained a fractured arm and severe head injuries.
Meanwhile, Rickey Singh, owner of the Ford ‘pick-up’, said just after 03:00h, he was awakened by a loud sound, and rushing to his verandah, realised that his vehicle was hit.
He said: “I look up the road and I did not see anything, so I went downstairs and ventured outside… Moments later, I saw a Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) vehicle approaching.

“They told me that it had to be a gold vehicle which had passed them about four times. A man then ran from the dam saying a vehicle turn over by the Temple fence. When I got there, two boys were lying on the dam; they were breathing…”
Another resident told reporters that after hearing the impact, her water tank fell off the trestle, but she did not venture outside as she was unsure of what she may have witnessed.
Reports are that since last November, Mohan had been staying with some friends at Baichan Sawmill at Crabwood Creek, having moved out of his Number 71 Village home after his father died and his mother moved on with her life.
Joshua Imanmo, who also lives at Baichan Sawmill, said a group of friends were with them chatting, before they retired on Tuesday night.
He said no one knew when Mohan picked up the vehicle and went to Kingston, Corriverton to collect his friend.
“It is the doctor at the hospital who called,” he said. “That’s how we knew something happened around 04:00h.”
Efforts to contact Sooknandan were futile. However, word is that his parents were unaware that he’d gone out during the wee hours of the morning.

(By Jeune Bailey-Vankeric)