Princes Town man dies after van tumbles off precipice

A brief stop at the roadside to urinate cost a 56-year-old man from Princes Town his life on November 21.

Anil "Drake" Singh, worked as a truck driver and mechanic.

Singh, who was a father, would have turned 57 on December 9. He lived in Williamsville but was originally from St Julien Road.

The accident happened after 4 pm while Singh and two friends, in their 40s, were on their way to collect money from someone on Mandingo Road, near Princes Town.

Singh stopped his Nissan Frontier on the edge of the roadside near an overgrown area and got out to urinate. While at the back of the van, he realised the vehicle was too close to a precipice hidden by the overgrown bushes.

The van started to move as the edge of the road began to give way, hitting Singh and knocking him over.

The van flipped about three times before coming to a halt down a landslip roughly 30 feet off the road.

Two men in  the van were injured but survived.

Singh's sister Annella Sawah said she saw missed calls from his cellphone earlier in the day, and around 5.30 pm, when she returned his call, someone else answered and told her of the tragedy.

"It is very shocking. He was my life.

"I did not know the area, so I was on the phone taking directions. I was confused because they (eyewitnesses) said after he was hit and fell, he was talking normally and asking them to call me. He was asking his friends if they were okay," Sawah told Newsday.

"People rushed to help them. A retired nurse was also helping. They put my brother on a chair and also on the ground, and he started complaining about breathing problems.

"When I reached he was unresponsive and had a slight pulse."

Singh was taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility, where he was declared dead at 7.45 pm.

Sawah shied away from blaming anyone for the tragedy. Instead, she suggested, "The authorities should put up caution tape or a sign to alert people about the depression. There were no signs whatsoever at the scene."

Her brother-in-law Winston Gunness recalled Singh had lived in the US and returned to Trinidad about a decade ago.

"He was a good person, no matter what. I have known him for over 40 years."

The funeral is tentatively set for November 26 at the family's home on St Julien Road, then to the Shore of Peace (Mosquito Creek) Cremation Site in La Romaine.

Barrackpore police are leading the investigation.