Thirteen injured in Rupert Craig Highway crash

Aug 10, 2009 News

(By Latoya Giles and Mondale Smith)

Thirteen people were injured at around 15: 40 hrs yesterday when a Rav 4 slammed into a 15-seater minibus outside the Kitty pump station on the Rupert Craig Highway.

The Minibus from which 15 escaped death, being towed from the scene.

According to eyewitness accounts, the route 44 minibus was side slammed as it headed east along the Rupert Craig highway by the Rav4, whose driver had reportedly ‘jumped’ the traffic light.
The injured were identified as Uriel Price 57, of Lot Seven Genevieve Canal who sustained severe back injuries; Yvette Boucher 50, of Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara, who suffered a broken left leg; Aaliyah Rahamatuallah 24, of Lot 22 Vryheid’s Lust, with injuries to her left and right hands; Abdool Khan 18, of Prince William Street, Plaisance, with injuries to his left shoulder; Michelle Johnson 38, also of Prince William Street Plaisance, with major lacerations to her shoulder and right foot; Naysia Samuels 23, of Lot 16 Vigilance, East Coast Demerara, with injuries to the neck and right foot; Sharon Jerome 38, of Lot 74 Norton Street Lodge, with a broken right hand and injuries to the head; Christian Singh 16, of Lot 2 Clonbrook East Coast Demerara, with injuries to the head and left foot; Natasha Abrams 23, of 45 Linden Drive Melanie Damishana, with injuries to the right foot and head and Royan Blackman 20, of 537 10th Street Dazzell Housing Scheme Paradise East Coast Demerara.
The driver of minibus BLL 163, Raymond Crandon, aged 30; said to be a police officer, received head injuries and also injured his right hand.

The badly damaged Rav 4 parked in the Kitty police station yesterday

He said he was proceeding along the Rupert Craig Highway and when he reached the intersection a Rav 4 with four occupants, slammed into the back of his bus.
His vehicle toppled three times before landing on its side.
But an occupant of the Rav 4, Terry Lalbachand, told Kaieteur News that the Rav 4 was attempting to cross the major intersection when the minibus slammed into the Rav 4. Lalbachand claimed that the driver of the minibus was speeding. But the driver and passengers interviewed begged to differ.
There was some confusion yesterday afternoon after the occupants of the Rav 4 arrived at the hospital.
Lalbachand initially told this newspaper that the driver of the vehicle ran from the accident scene.
The man failed to admit that it was 20-year-old, Totaram Madhoo, of Lot 28 Essequibo Coast who was driving the vehicle.
Lalbachand continued to tell the traffic ranks that the driver whom he identified as Tallesh Young was the driver and he left the scene of the accident.
Eventually, hospital officials questioned Madhoo who admitted that he was the driver of the Rav 4.
According to Madhoo, all the occupants of the Rav 4 were consuming alcohol earlier. He said that he was the only one that wasn’t so intoxicated, so he decided to drive the vehicle to take everybody home.