A TEENAGER who was the pillion rider on a motorcycle died after the rider of the bike lost control of it and slammed into a utility pole at Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice, early Tuesday morning.

The dead teen has been identified as Dave Kumar Williams, 16, also known as Boy, of 573 Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice. The rider of the motorcycle, Leon Norton, aged 21 of the same village was up to late Tuesday fighting for his life at the Georgetown Hospital after being transferred to that Institution from the New Amsterdam Public Hospital.

Reports state that Norton, riding motorcycle CF 9832, was negotiating a turn from DeEdward into Cotton Tree Village around 01:00hrs when he lost control. The injured men were picked up and rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where Williams died while receiving medical attention. Natram Sahadeo, a close relative of the deceased told the Guyana Chronicle that both men had participated in kite flying at Bath Settlement on Easter Monday. He said that he warned the rider to park the motorcycle, since he noticed that they were becoming inebriated.

“I warned them about three occasions to park the bike,” the grieving Sahadeo said. Norton agreed to park the motorcycle at the home of a relative in the village but later, unbeknownst to Sahadeo, apparently changed his mind. Sahadeo said that it was around 01:00hrs that he received a phone call informing him of the fatal accident. Williams had been engaged in cash crop farming in the village. He leaves to mourn his parents and two siblings.