Driver of burnt-out tanker describes harrowing experience in Linden

Jul 24, 2012 News

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“Dem tell we anytime we move de truck dey gon follow we and beat we.”

While there continues to be much focus on the plight of Lindeners, the driver of a fuel tanker is counting his lucky stars that he is still around to describe his near death experience at the hands of persons who are definitely capitalising of the unrest in the mining town.
Khemraj Parma of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara ,was the driver of a fuel tanker that was set alight by an angry mob at the entrance to Wismar from the Mabura trail last Wednesday.
He described an experience that no one will want to go through, one which has been soundly condemned by legitimate protestors.
But despite the condemnation, nothing will ever erase the fear that gripped Parma and his porter as they were on their way to Georgetown from the interior on Wednesday at the commencement of the protest actions taken by Lindeners over the hike in electricity tariffs.
He spoke of attempts to burn his tanker with him inside and having to hide for hours in the dark bushes just off the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge.
The $11M tanker that Parma drives, which is owned by Vishnu Singh of

Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, has been taking fuel to various part of the interior such as Mango Landing, Omai and Konawaruk for awhile now.
Parma himself has been making the trip for the past five years, and during that period, nothing prepared him for what he experienced last Wednesday.
He and his porter left Georgetown on July 16 with their tanker loaded with 25,000 litres of diesel and for their usual destinations. After unloading their cargo they were on their way back out and reached Linden on Wednesday in the height of protest actions there.
Parma was unaware that there was a protest, so he innocently drove into it.
“When we near reach de bridge, when we come down de hill, we see one, one vehicle deh line off all two side ah de road. Then we realize ‘Oh skites, dis is a blockage’,” the truck driver told this newspaper.
He said that he tried to turn around his truck but since the road was narrow he could not navigate the large tanker to successfully complete the task.
“By time I doing duh, couple man run in front ah de truck and tell me, ‘no, no you can’t turn around, park and wait hey till de media dem come and see how much vehicle we get park up hey.’ So, me ain’t really bad up because me ain’t want dem beat me,” Parma told this newspaper during a visit to the Saffon Street office.
According to the truck driver, about 10 youths had surrounded his tanker, but although they did not appear to be armed except for a few pieces of sticks, he and his porter were obviously afraid and they complied with the command.
Nevertheless, he was optimistic that the mob would disappear as soon as darkness set in and he would eventually be able to move his truck. He had come out of the truck, and using his cellular phone, contacted the owner of the tanker who advised him that it would be safe to park at a location in Mabura whenever he was allowed to move.
That opportunity never materialized.
“Dem tell we anytime we move de truck dey gon follow we and beat we.”
Just about then the police began firing tear gas to force the protestors away from the Wismar/Mackenzie Bridge to allow traffic to resume.
The tear smoke forced Parma and his porter to retreat into the cab of the truck, but the protestors had now become very angry as a result of the police actions.
“About twenty minutes after, we hear dem seh dem gon burn de truck. Dem man start climb up pon de truck. Dey tek off de drum wha had de gasoline and drain out de lil bit wha lef inside. Dey light de truck at de side ah we because it been open. Dem tek de gas and throw it inside and light it,” Parma recalled.
He said that some in the mob even took a piece of cloth and stuffed it through the grill of his truck and tried to set it alight even though he and his porter were inside.
“We see de flame come up and we say, ‘oh shucks, dis truck catching afire with we.’ But when we watch again we ain’t see back nothing, just one lil blaze and it done, it ain’t catch,” the truck driver related. Apparently frustrated over their failed attempt, the angry mob started breaking the windows of Parma’s truck.
This was the signal for Parma and his porter to get out.
Using the darkness of the night, they bolted from the cab of the tanker and made it to the nearby bushes where they braved the mosquitoes and hid for a while.
“I was really frightened because dem don tell we dey gon beat we. Dem man look cruel. After dem man start talk ‘bout burn and we see dat, we de seh dat we done hey,” Parma told this newspaper.
According to the truck driver, they left behind in the truck a piece of jewellery, cash and his spectacles among other valuables.
While hiding in the bushes, Parma had the nerve to contemplate going back to the truck, but when he emerged, what he saw quickly deterred him.
“When I going, some ah dem deh a lil distance away and one ah dem say, ‘watch somebody going back to de truck’. So I run back in de bush. Li’l after one ah dem run in de bush behind me but he didn’t know wha part I deh,” the truck driver recalled.
He is convinced that if he was discovered great harm would have be done to him.
He told Kaieteur News that he and his porter remained in the bushes for about three hours and only came out when they recognised the sounds of members of the joint services.
By then their truck had been completely destroyed.

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