GEORGETOWN Public Hospital (GPH) doctors were yesterday battling to save the life of 20-year-old Joel Fowler of Crane, West Coast Demerara, a miner who sustained severe head injuries, including a fractured skull and injuries to the neck, among other things, in an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) accident he encountered along with four others at Port Kaituma on Monday at about 16:30 hrs.

The victim, formerly of Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, was air-dashed to the city the afternoon of the accident, and taken for emergency surgery at the GPHC. He remained in the recovery room for several hours following surgery.
According to the doctor, who operated on Fowler at the GPHC, his condition is critical and his chances of recovery are bleak. He was unconscious and unable to breathe, and so was placed on a ventilator. His brain function has been severely reduced, and the pupils of his eyes have not been responding to light or stimuli.
On receiving the tragic news, his parents — Claire Fowler and Steven Allen of Crane Village, and formerly of Mahaica — rushed to the GPHC, along with his siblings and other family members, but he was apparently in a coma and was unable to recognize any of them.