Probe continues into fatal bus crash

INVESTIGATIONS are still going on with regard to the highway crash in February which claimed the lives of two elderly female passengers on a Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) bus and injured 48 others.

PTSC general manager Bashir Mohammed said bus driver Seelal Monkissoon, who was injured in the crash, is still on leave, but he is progressing.

In a telephone interview, Mohammed said Monkissoon, of Princes Town, visited his doctor on April 3 and was given additional time to recuperate.

“He has been having some pain to the leg and his doctor wants to do some more tests. At the end of this week I should get a further update on his progress, but he has been coming along well.

“He has been receiving some counselling and therapy, both mental and physical.”

In an interview shortly after the accident, Monkissoon said he was cut on the face and had other injuries, and was haunted by the images of the mangled metal mixed with blood, plus the screams of the passengers.

Monkissoon, who had a 12-year unblemished record with the PTSC, was heading north, to Port of Spain, near Charlieville, driving a deluxe coach filled with passengers. A Blue Waters delivery truck travelling south was hit by a garbage truck, causing it to cross the median and crash into the bus.

The driver said although he knew the accident was not his fault, the fact that people died and were injured had been very traumatising for him. Mohammed said counselling was offered to the injured commuters and relatives of the deceased women, Tara Baboolal, 66, of Debe and Judy Marcia Reid Clarke, 61, of Diego Martin. “That is going on, subject to the commuters’ availability. The counsellors are in touch to help them to help manage the situation they endured.’

In an interview on Wednesday, Baboolal’s only daughter Nadia said counselling was offered but her family declined. “We are doing what we have to do, trying to put everything in order. It’s still hard to believe this (the death of her mother).”

She said she was not totally satisfied with the pace of the investigation. “We have to call to find out what is going on. No one (police officers) really came to us. Last month someone from PTSC visited my father, but I don’t know what that was about.”

In the Senate on Tuesday, Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan, commenting on another incident, in which a PTSC bus was stolen, said the corporation was not liable for injuries caused during the escapade.