POLICE are investigating a fatal accident that occurred around 12:30 hrs on Tuesday, on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway in the vicinity of Loo Creek, which claimed the lives of three persons including a female Venezuelan national.

According to information from the Guyana Police Force, the accident involved motor lorry #GXX 1546, driven by Lional Campbell, a 73-year-old of Kuru Kururu Village, with one occupant (name, age and address unknown at this time) and motor lorry #GAG 313, driven by Carlos Yasmanie, a 29-year-old Venezuelan national and one occupant, a female Venezuelan national named Meli (only name given, and both of no fixed placed of abode as they were living and sleeping in the lorry daily).

Enquiries disclosed that the lorry #GAG 313, driven by the Venezuelan national, was proceeding north along the western drive lane of the highway at a fast rate of speed.
Carlos Yasmanie alleged that he saw a car (number unknown), which was proceeding in front of him, suddenly apply the brakes and slow down to manoeuvre a pothole.
On seeing that, the Venezuelan driver said he swerved in a north-eastern direction to avoid a collision with the car, and in the process collided head-on with motor lorry #GXX 1546, which was proceeding south along the eastern drive lane.

As a result of the collision, motor lorry #GAG 313 was engulfed in fire, and the female Venezuelan occupant, who was sitting in the left front passenger seat, was trapped and was burnt to death. Yasmanie was assisted out of the lorry by public-spirited citizens, with injuries to his body.

The 73-year-old driver, along with the occupant of Motor Lorry #GXX 1546, also received injuries to their heads and other parts of their bodies.
The ambulance service, along with the Fire Service, was summoned to the scene and arrived with a team of Emergency Medical Technicians, who went into action.
The driver, along with the occupant of Lorry #GXX 1546 and the occupant of Lorry #GAG 313, were pronounced dead at the scene by the said EMT staff.

The bodies of the three deceased persons were escorted by the police to the Pensioners’ Mortuary in Linden, for cold storage awaiting post-mortem examination.
Yasmanie was placed into an ambulance in a conscious condition by the EMT staff and he was conveyed to Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was seen and examined by a doctor on duty and admitted as a patient in the male surgical ward, suffering from a broken left foot and lacerations about his body. His condition is regarded as stable. Further investigations are continuing.