DEADLY CRASH

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

Tobago Bureau

A 67-YEAR-OLD Trinidad woman was killed while three others escaped with their lives when a cement truck crashed on top of and then crushed the station-wagon the woman and two others were in yesterday along the Windward Road, near Brantal’s Bar and Grill in Hope, Tobago.

Police and fire officials were last night still investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident which occurred shortly during mid-morning and which saw the truck flipping on its side and crushing a stationwagon.

The accident caused a huge traffic pile-up which lasted for several hours along the Windward Road between the Dwight Yorke Stadium and as far east as Goodwood. Several bystanders flocked to the scene in an attempt to assist.

Speaking with Newsday, Divisional Fire Officer David Thomas said that at 10.10 am, the fire services received a distress call and on arriving, firemen saw the cement truck on its side on top of the flattened stationwagon which contained three people including the driver.

“The driver of the truck, 24-year-old Neilon Alfred was discovered on the ground south of the wreckage in an unconscious state, having been thrown out of the vehicle while the whole catastrophe was taking place. He was treated for head, neck and chest injuries and was the first person to be taken from the scene to hospital,” Thomas said.

He said it took firemen several hours to extricate the three people in the station-wagon owing to vehicle being flattened by the weight of the truck crashing onto it. Two Hiab trucks and and excavator, he said, had to be used to pull the car from under the truck.

“The two Hiab trucks and the excavator were able to raise the cement truck and secure it in a safe manner to allow rescue operations to extricate the victims from the Wingroad.

“The first person to be extricated was the front seat passenger, a lady by the name of Claudia Hunte, a Trinidadian who was just in Tobago for the day to transact business. She appeared to be suffering from head, neck and chest injuries. Unfortunately, out information is that she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital."

Thomas said the extrication exercise took about three hours to complete before firemen could reach the other two people trapped in the wreckage of the stationwagon.

"The driver, Felton Murray, was taken out and found to be nursing injuries to his lower extremities. The other passenger, Beatrice Dan-Nancis from Goodwood was taken from the scene in a semi-conscious state and showed visible signs of injuries to her neck and upper right shoulder,” Thomas said.

Up to press time, all three victims were warded at Scarborough General Hospital with their medical condition unknown. This is the second fatal accident within the past month involving trucks. Earlier this month, two women were killed in an accident involving a rubbish truck, a Blue Waters truck and a PTSC bus along the Uriah Butler Highway. The road fatality rate for this year, following the Tobago accident, stood at 23.