Latest update March 23rd, 2025 9:41 AM
Latest News
- ExxonMobil dodges question on whether operations can lead to cancer, other diseases
- Govt., and Opposition MPs a no-show at Exxon’s public meetings on 8th project
- Trump revokes legal status for 530,000 immigrants in the US
- Over 200 affected after fire destroys section of Critchlow Labour College
- Govt. issues order to acquire more land for Gas-to-Energy project
Friends to be buried side by side
Providence crash victims…
– doubts linger as to who was at the wheel
By Michael Jordan
Best friends to the end, Richard Chinian and James Sookdeo, who perished in last Friday’s smash-up at Providence, East Bank Demerara, are to be buried side by side.
Richard’s father, Lionel Chinian, told Kaieteur News that the youths will be laid to rest on Tuesday at the Little Diamond Cemetery.
Dead: Asheeki Ali
“They were best friends. They knew one another for eight years, maybe longer,” Mr. Chinian said yesterday.
The two families have already identified the plots where Richard and James, both aged 23, will be interred.
It is unclear when the third victim, 19-year-old Asheeki Asgar Ally will be buried, since his relatives are still too grief-stricken to speak.
The youths, along with lone survivor Faroud Mohamed, 23, were heading north along the East Bank Demerara public road, in a car they had taken without permission, when they crashed into the concrete base of a light pole.
Sookdeo and Chinian were pronounced dead on arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
Ally succumbed while receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
The Toyota Carina, PFF 576, belonged to Lionel Chinian, who disclosed that he was asleep when his son, Richard, took the keys to the vehicle.
But while police say survivor Faroud Mohamed was driving, Mr. Chinian and Mohamed’s relatives believe this was not the case.
His mother, Lynette Khan, said she was informed by the mother of one of the dead youths that Richard Chinian was driving.
Dead: Richard Chinian
“He (Mohamed) say he was not driving; he was behind the driver.”
Mohamed, who sustained minor injuries, was taken to the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court about seven hours after the accident, but no charges were read to him.
Mr. Chinian, too, believes that Mohamed was sitting behind the driver when the crash occurred.
He said that his son was sitting next to the driver, whom he believes was 19-year-old Asheeki Asgar Ally. According to Mr. Chinian, Ally was the only one of the four youths to possess a driver’s licence.
Mr. Chinian noted that on impact, the entire engine had shifted into the front seats, and would have crushed the driver and front seat passenger.
According to Chinian, Asheeki Ally, whom he believes was driving, suffered massive internal injuries. Mohamed, whom he believes was sitting behind the driver, only suffered a broken ankle and an injury to his left side.
A Providence resident who was one of the first to reach the victims said he is unsure who was driving because of the chaos at the scene.
Dead: James Sookdeo
“The car was smoking; the radiator was burst and we say let us get them out before the car catch fire.”
He recalled that the victims were motionless and all appeared to be dead.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Teen arrested over uncle’s murder after sharing burial plan with relative
Kaieteur News- A teenager of Tabatinga, Lethem, Central Rupununi, Region Nine was arrested for murder on Friday after he... more
The Caribbean: Destined to Grin and Bear the Consequences of Its Self-Created Vulnerabilities?
By Sir Ronald Sanders For decades, many Caribbean nations have grappled with dependence on a small number of powerful countries... more
Weekend Cartoon
