2 die in Tobago crash

Two men are dead as a result of an accident which occurred along the Claude Noel Highway on Friday afternoon.

The men have been identified as 30-year-old David Kenneth King and Hector Kennedy of Daniel Trace, Carnbee, and Union Village respectively. King was a labourer with the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Divisional commander of the Tobago Division of the TTPS acting Senior Superintendent Jeffrey George told Sunday Newsday that around 4.35 pm, officers responded to a report of a fatal accident along the Claude Noel Highway in Lowlands. At the scene, officers saw a head-on collision on the northern side of the highway between a white Toyota Axio (PDC 6902) driven by King facing west and a white Mitsubishi L300 panel van (TBZ 854) driven by Kennedy facing east. Both vehicles were severely damaged.

Fire officials had also responded to the scene that was initially reported to them as a fire. Divisional fire officer David Thomas said both men had to be removed from their vehicles at which point Kennedy was found to have suffered multiple fractures to his legs.

King and his son, two-year-old Kyrie King, were carried to the hospital by EHS Ambulance, while Kennedy was carried in a police vehicle. King was pronounced dead at 5.36 pm but Kennedy succumbed to his injuries while being treated at 10.30 pm. Little Kyrie remains warded under observation.

Investigators said they were not sure what caused the accident.

However, Thomas said “there was no brake impression at the scene. What this implies is that no one applied brakes, so both or one of the drivers might have been distracted or unaware of what was happening.”

With that, Thomas appealed to drivers to be cautious on the roadway to avoid further catastrophes noting, “The very fact that patience is a virtue, is something that drivers should play very close attention to.

“If you decide to drive your motor vehicle, you should always be in a position to react twice as fast as you drive and think three times as fast as you drive. It is a responsibility to ensure that other road users are safe.”

Investigations are ongoing by officers of the Old Grange Police Station and Scarborough Fire Station.

This is the second fatal fatality on the Claude Noel Highway in less than a month. On October 28, a private of the TT Regiment, McKeon Eastman, 31, died when his vehicle hit the guard railing between All Fields Crown Trace and the Gulf City Mall.

Investigations into that accident are also ongoing.