HIS stopping for a drink on the Itabali/Puruni trail was Region 7 truck driver, Jermaine Khan’s undoing, as he subsequently lost his life after crashing the vehicle he was driving.The incident reportedly occurred on Saturday afternoon when the truck, which was laden with mining supplies headed to a hinterland mining camp and veered off the roadway into the bushes at the side of the road, thereby bringing it to a halt.
Three other persons who were travelling in the same vehicle survived the ordeal, but Khan, 36, of One Mile, Potaro, Bartica was pronounced dead on arrival at the Bartica Hospital, after being pulled from the wreckage. The team reportedly worked for a Russian mining company.
The injured have been identified as Ronald Singh, Leroy Benjamin and Damon John, who were all brought by speedboat from Bartica to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where they were admitted.
Reports are that the driver was so intoxicated, he lost control of the truck while negotiating a turn on a hillside on the Potaro Road, which caused him to eventually crash into a tree before coming to a halt. Rescuers had to use a welding torch to free the trapped driver from the wreckage. The others had somehow managed to free themselves from the vehicle.
Reports further reveal that the truck had early Saturday morning used the Mekdeci Crossing on its way to an unnamed mining camp. Along the way, however, the driver and passengers opted to have a few drinks at an Itabali Landing watering hole, before hitting the trail again at around 15:00 hours.
Half an hour later, persons heading in the same direction as the ill-fated truck in an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) recalled hearing the ominous sound of a vehicle in trouble.
And heading to the direction where the noise came from, they saw that a section of the forest had been mowed down by the impact and the truck tucked away more than 100 feet off the trail.