The absence of adequate lighting along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway has been raised following the deadly collision at Long Creek that claimed four lives and left three others hospitalised.
Relatives of the dead and community leaders are calling for answers about the circumstances surrounding Friday night’s crash, while the police have said preliminary investigations indicate that the motor car was travelling at a fast rate before its driver lost control and collided with the rear of a Guyana Defence Force-owned truck.
The accident occurred at about 8:45 pm and involved motor lorry DFB 1788, driven by a 40-year-old resident of Paradise Village, West Coast Berbice, and motor car PZZ 8392, which was being driven by Egbert Blair, 55, of Half Mile, Wismar, Linden.
Blair, Tevin Thompson, 30, of One Mile, Wismar, Danneal Darrell, 28, of Block 22, Wismar, and Eon Jarvis were pronounced dead on arrival at the Linden Hospital Complex, according to the police report.
The report listed Jarvis as being 40 years old and from Wismar, Linden. However, Regional Vice Chairman Mark Goring said Jarvis, known as “Snake” was 50 and lived at Blueberry Hill, Linden. Goring said he had been asked to identify Jarvis after receiving a photograph of him, as his family had not yet been informed of the accident.
The police said the motor lorry was proceeding south along the eastern driving lane of the highway, with the car travelling in the same direction behind it.
The collision left the car mangled, and the driver and passengers sustained injuries about their bodies.
Three surviving occupants – a 43-year-old woman of Rainbow City, Mackenzie; a 45-year-old man of Block 22, Wismar; and a 40-year-old man of Green Valley, Wismar – were admitted to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit for treatment.
Visibility
However, relatives and other persons familiar with the victims have offered differing accounts of the circumstances leading to the collision, particularly regarding the movement and visibility of the truck.
Amin Britton, a family friend who was at the Linden hospital yesterday told Kiskadee Watch that one of the injured men, Rawle Williams, was awaiting transfer to Georgetown for a CT scan and chest X-ray. Williams, a carpenter, was listed as stable.
Britton said Williams and the others were travelling to Linden after leaving Georgetown at about 7 pm using a public-hire car operating on the Linden-to-Georgetown route.
Britton, who said he knew the driver personally, described Blair as a longstanding motorist who had been driving for more than 15 years and was well-known in the community. He also said that to his knowledge, Blair did not drink alcohol.
According to him, the fuel truck was parked on the highway without reflector lights or functioning tail lights that would have made it visible to approaching motorists. “The entire highway has no lights,” he shared, adding that the darkness and the condition of the highway made the truck difficult to see. He said it was a clear case of the driver not seeing the truck.
However, Darrell’s sister, Walesia Darrell, disputed the suggestion that the truck was stationary, saying people who witnessed the accident told her it had been moving.
She said the driver had reportedly been attempting to overtake when a sand truck approached from the opposite direction. When the driver realised he could not complete the manoeuvre, she said he ended up beneath the truck.
Walesia further shared that she heard about the accident shortly after 8 pm on Friday while trying to contact her sister, who was expected to reach Linden by then. She said Darrell had messaged her earlier to explain that she was no longer travelling because there was no transportation available at the park but later sent another message saying she had secured a car.
When Walesia could not reach her sister by telephone, she saw reports of an accident on the highway and contacted a female tout at the park to ask what colour car Darrell had entered.
The tout told her it was a blue car, leading Walesia to realise that it was likely the same vehicle involved in the collision.
Walesia said her sister had gone to see another sister who was battling cancer in hospital after work and went home after to change and travel to Linden to see her baby.
Darrell was a 28-year-old data analysis clerk at the Ministry of Health and lived at Ogle Railway Embankment. She was the mother of a 14-month-old baby girl who stays with Walesia in Linden. Darrell had been trying to obtain a transfer to Linden, which would have brought her closer to her child, according to her sister.
Walesia said that when the car was pulled from beneath the truck, her sister survived for about 10 minutes before dying.
Meanwhile, a relative of Thompson said she learnt of his death while she was in Kwakwani, after a cousin informed her of the accident.
Thompson, 30, a father of three, lived at Castello Housing Scheme in Georgetown and worked as a driver for R&S Insurance Company.
The relative told Kiskadee Watch that to her knowledge, the car’s driver was speeding and collided with the rear of the truck.
Meanwhile, the Regional Vice Chairman said he grew up in the same neighbourhood as Jarvis and was contacted after someone sent him a photograph for identification. He also raised concerns about the lack of lighting along the highway, describing it as being in pitch darkness.
Medical facilities
Goring said he had served as Region 10’s vice-chairman for three years and had concerns about the medical facilities available to residents in Linden. He said the three surviving occupants had been transferred to Georgetown on Saturday, adding that Linden was still awaiting training for personnel to operate a CT scan machine that had been installed more than a year ago. As a result, patients continued to have to travel to Georgetown for CT scans, he said.
Mayor of Linden Dominique Blair said the accident had left the community in mourning, and he called for a full account of what had happened. He said he had visited the hospital on Friday night and encountered people seeking answers about the crash. He had contacted the relevant police commander but was told that the area where the accident occurred fell under Region Four rather than the division covering Linden.
The mayor said he had seen the police release yesterday but was awaiting a complete report before commenting on the cause of the accident.
He also raised concerns about emergency response times, saying someone who was at the scene had complained to him that an ambulance took a while to arrive.
The mayor said the issue of highway safety had previously been discussed at meetings of Linden’s Intelligence Committee, headed by the town’s chairman. He recalled issuing a public statement after a teacher from the community died in an earlier accident, calling for additional safety measures, including emergency stops and an emergency station along the highway to facilitate faster responses to collisions.
According to the mayor, emergency stops were subsequently installed, but he believes further measures are needed to reduce fatalities and ensure that injured persons receive timely assistance.
He said the tragedy was particularly emotional for him as a community leader who would have to face residents and relatives seeking explanations. He extended condolences to the families of those killed and expressed hope for the recovery of the injured.
Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed also offered condolences to the bereaved families and wished those still critically injured a full and swift recovery.
In a statement yesterday, Mohamed linked the crash to concerns about the condition of the highway, alleging that the government had spent US$161 million on the roadway while leaving motorists to travel through darkness.
He said streetlights that should have been installed months ago remained missing and alleged that warning signs and proper road markings were absent. “This was not just an accident,” Mohamed said, describing the deaths as a reminder of the risks posed by what he characterised as dangerous highway conditions.
He called on the government to explain delays in installing the required infrastructure and demanded immediate action to address what he described as unsafe conditions along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
Mohamed also called for a full investigation into the collision, while stressing that the absence of basic lighting on a major public highway should not be overlooked.
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