Barrackpore man dies after falling from moving truck

SEELAL JOHN, 51, of Lawrence Hill, Barrackpore is believed to have died on January 20 after falling from the back of a truck he was riding in.

His niece, Lisa Rohan, told Newsday the family is still trying to process the tragic news.

"It's hard. We didn't expect him to die that way...we ain't come to terms with the fact that he died.

"When I was coming down the road just now I saw somebody liming by a shed out the road and I telling my husband, 'Look him stand up there.' Because that's one of the spots he does normally be in."

Rohan said they received a call around 7.40 pm telling the family that John had fallen off the truck on Ramai Trace, Debe and died of his injuries there.

Rohan sent CCTV footage to Newsday showing what appeared to be John standing in the back of a flatbed truck, holding onto a cage that surrounded the bed, as it drove down Ramai Trace.

She said this was highly unusual for her uncle who, despite finding his own way around, preferred walking.

"To my knowledge, and knowing him for how long, he's always a walking person. Is only if somebody know him they'd give him a ride. But wherever he want to go, point A, B, C – he always walking to go."

She said John earned a living doing odd jobs and was last seen by a villager pulling out grass opposite KFC in Debe about two hours before his death.

She said John was unmarried, did not have any children and lived alone.

Rohan said while the family visited the San Fernando General Hospital mortuary on January 21, the autopsy is carded for later this week.