Lumber truck topples after side-swiping bus

Aug 21, 2009 News

Passengers in this bus were fortunate to escape unharmed

Passengers in a route 42 minibus were lucky to escape serious injury at around 05:35 hrs yesterday after a lumber truck side-swiped their vehicle before toppling over on the East Bank Demerara public road near Diamond Housing Scheme.
A woman who was in the bus sustained minor injury to one of her hands.
The careening truck also smashed a utility pole which crashed down on part of a fence belonging to a resident, who said it was fortunate that no one was standing there at the time.
The truck, GEE 9969, was badly damaged.

The badly damaged truck

Both drivers blamed each other for the accident while speaking to Kaieteur News.
The minibus driver claimed that he was heading north along the thoroughfare when the truck, which was heading in the same direction, slammed into the right side of his bus, BKK 3625.
But the truck driver, Vernon Klass, alleged that the mishap occurred when the bus driver stopped suddenly at the entrance to the Great Diamond Housing Scheme to pick up a passenger.
Klass said the weight of the lumber in his truck prevented him from stopping. However, he managed to manoeuvre his vehicle so that it only struck the right side of the bus.
The weight of the truck caused it to topple, Klass said.
Had he rammed the back of the bus, some of the passengers would have been killed, he added.
Both drivers have been questioned by police.