A tragic accident along the Uriah Butler Highway, Chaguanas, yesterday left a woman dead, two critical and five others seriously injured. The accident occurred at about 1.45 pm along the south-bound lane of the highway, near the ANSA McAL Building. The dead woman was identified as Natasha Williams, 31. The critically wounded were taxi driver David Rampersad, of San Francique, Penal, and Cintra Tobias, of Cunupia.
The other injured were Tobias' husband, Lawrence, Imran Mohammed, Nadia Hosein, Keniesha Browne and Kiel Gonzales. There were two motorists who escaped death and injuries, Shawn Trapp, 35, of Belmont, and Amar Seerattan, 40, of Cunupia.
Police assigned to the National Operations Centre (NOC), who were returning from the funeral of police inspector Sahadeo Singh, rendered assistance to the accident victims. One female NOC member stayed at Tobias' side continuously talking to her in an attempt to keep her from slipping into unconsciousness.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian at the scene, Seerattan said he was driving his green band maxi taxi along the south-bound lane when he noticed a Nissan Tida, travelling in the opposite lane, cross the median. “I tried to swerve and the car only managed to hit the back of the maxi. When I watch in the rearview mirror all I see was the Tida airborne and landing on the yellow car. It then fell over and hit the taxi.”
Williams, who was seated behind Rampersad in the taxi, suffered severe head trauma and died on the scene. The Tida was driven by Lawrence and his wife was seated in the front passenger seat. The taxi, a Black Nissan Sunny HBU 7684, was driven by Rampersad. Its front seat passenger was Hosein and back passengers were Browne, Gonzales and Williams. The yellow Lancer was driven by Mohammed.
Trapp said he was driving his silver Blue Bird along the north-bound lane when he was broad sided by the Tida. “The Tida flipped when it hit the median and broad sided me and then hit the median again. The Tida pitched up in the air and fall on the yellow car,” he said. There were many calls to the ambulance service but the first ambulance arrived on the scene about 53 minutes after the accident occurred. There were claims that there were no ambulances in Chaguanas to respond immediately.
Also stopping to assist was Supt George Allsop of the Western Division. He expressed his disgust at people speeding along the highway and pleaded with motorists to obey traffic laws and be mindful of other drivers. A party of police from Central Division, including Insp Kisoonlal and PCs Jeffrey, Mc Kenzie and Roopchand, were also on the scene assisting with early investigations.
The accident caused a massive traffic pile-up along both lanes of the highway and along the east-bound lane of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway. The Priority Bus Route was opened late yesterday to allow motorists usage in a bid to bring relief.