Two more families were plunged into mourning after two people died in separate road accidents near Caroni and Gasparillo yesterday morning. Sade Hernandez, 28, a mother of one, and Kyle Mendoza, 23, died yesterday, increasing the number of people killed in road accidents within the space of two days to four. Hernandez, a secretary at General Earth Movers, was being driven by a friend Nicholas Wilson in her car when the accident took place.
A police report stated that around 3 am, Wilson was heading south along the Solomon Hochoy Highway and crashed into a wreck of another vehicle on the side of the road. Police said earlier there was another accident near Gasparillo and the crashed car was still on the scene. Hernandez, who was in front seat, died on impact. Wilson was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was treated.
At Hernandez’ Thomas Street, San Fernando, home yesterday her parents, Jacqueline Hernandez and Albert Hutson Niles, were distraught over the death of their last daughter. “I don’t know what happened. She now start to live her life,” sobbed the mother. She described her daughter as a respectful person. She said they have no idea how to explain to her six-year-old daughter Shyann that her mother was dead.
Jacqueline said Hernandez left home around 9 pm on Saturday, but she did not know where she went. The other accident took place around 9.15 am. Police said Mendoza was driving south along the Uriah Butler Highway after dropping off a friend at the Grand Bazaar, Valsayn. On reaching close to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary, police said Mendoza’s car skidded off the road and slammed into a tree. The car split in two, with one side plunging into the nearby ravine.
Other motorists stopped and tried to assist Mendoza, but he was pinned behind the wheel. When the fire fighters arrived they used hydraulic cutting tools to free Mendoza from the car, but by then he was already dead. T&T Guardian was told that Mendoza lived at Caratal Road, Gasparillo, but his father lived at Freeport. Investigations are continuing.
Other weekend fatalities
On Saturday around 4 am Richard Kevon Bailey, 28, of Union Hall, San Fernando and Kamau Daniel Forrester, 33, of Sobo Village, La Brea, were killed in a head-on collision at Mosquito Creek, La Romaine.
Police warning
On Friday, the Police Service issued an advisory pleading with motorists to exercise care on the roads and it has noticed a trend over the last three weekends of a sharp increase in road deaths with speed and lack of seatbelt use being the main factors. Data showed that as at Friday, 128 people died on the road for the year, compared with 125 for the same period last year.