SUV overturns but hikers escape serious injury – NORTH COAST MISHAP

A SANGRE GRANDE family is thanking God after they escaped serious injury and even death following an accident along the North Coast on Tuesday afternoon, which saw their SUV overturning along a steep, narrow road.

Fire officers said the hikers were travelling in a Nissan Pathfinder on Fond Pois Doux Road, off the North Coast Road, at around 4 pm, when the driver got some difficulty navigating the vehicle on an uneven patch of the road.

The passengers, including three adults and four children were returning from a hike to Paragrant Bay.

Officers said the driver tried to turn the Pathfinder which slipped and fell on its side before turning upside down in a nearby track.

The passengers were able to free themselves as hikers in another SUV saw what happened and alerted the fire service for help.

Officers from the Wrightson Road Fire Headquarters and the Land, Search and Rescue Unit in Santa Cruz were called in and helped to flip the SUV back on its top but which remained on the narrow track up to Tuesday night.

The passengers suffered minor cuts and bruising from the accident.

Newsday visited the area and spoke with Assistant Chief Fire Officer Earl Sampson who said he was relieved the hikers were not seriously injured. He also commended the driver for her efforts to try and safely drive the SUV.

"I commend her (the driver) because she was quick in her thinking and banked the vehicle, but in banking the vehicle it flipped on its hood, trapping the occupants.

"Some of the residents in the area also came to their assistance together with the fire officers and police from the Maracas Bay and Maraval police stations. The terrain is treacherous, it's not an ideal road and you have to exercise some care," Sampson said.

Before details of the incident could be confirmed, the incident was wildly exaggerated on social media with various accounts being that a bus had gone off a precipice and that there were multiple casualties, while another account was that a maxi-taxi had gone over.

In fact, the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) issued a press release rubbishing the social media claims.

When it became aware of the claims, the PTSC conducted a full audit and confirmed all of its buses including those which regularly services the North Coast route, were accounted for and that there were no such incidents.

Sampson said fire officers, while en route, were also confused by the differing claims being made online and were able to properly assess the situation only once they arrived on the scene.

"We in the fire service are trained professionals so we cannot go into panic mode, we have to go into assessment mode.

"We must be able to determine what has happened and develop a proper operational response to deal with the incident.

"We were also hearing and seeing a lot of things but when we got here, the officers took charge and we eventually recognised what had actually happened."

Speaking with reporters, Curtis Horsford – brother of the driver – said it was a frightening experience especially for the children who were in the SUV. He recalled having to run further along the North Coast Road to get better cellphone service to call the police and fire service.

"I didn't know how that happened, so I continued to run down the hill to see what I could do. Everybody was screaming at the time.

"I had to run back out to get reception, it was pretty challenging and eventually after I made a half mile distance up, that I got a signal and was able to call 999.

Horsford said while the incident was unfortunate, he is grateful no one in his family was severely injured. He hopes others would learn from the incident and drive with full caution along the North Coast Road.

Horsford also thanked the fire officers for their quick response in helping his family.

Visiting the scene were acting Cpl Lavia and PC Lall from the Maraval police station and PCs Williams, Melville and WPC Eustache from the Maracas Bay police station.