A pensioner was on Tuesday afternoon crushed to death in his car after a sand truck being driven by a drunken man crashed into it on the Corentyne Highway.
Dead is 71-year-old Narinedatt Lowhar, called “Uncle Balo”, of lot 23 Number 47 Village, Corentyne. At the time of the accident, he and his wife were in a motorcar bearing registration plate number PJJ 25 and were turning into their yard when the truck bearing registration plate number GPP 2369 slammed into the car sending it 30 meters away.
Welliama Lingen, 55, the dead man’s wife, said she was rendered unconscious by the impact and cannot remember much, but recalls residents having to remove her husband from the wreckage.
“When ah catch myself they take me out from the car and my husband leave in and I tell them to go and see what happen to him,” the grieving widow said. She added that she saw persons wrenching open the car and then she lost consciousness the second time.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness, Zoreen (only name given), who lives nearby said it took villagers several minutes to remove Lowhar from the wreckage. She said they were on their way home when they noticed the wrecked car on the road and screamed for help.
The woman related that when she went to the rescue of Lingen, her husband got some men who were in the vicinity to wrench open the vehicle to get the injured man out.“When they get him out they put him to lie down on the ground and I check and his heart was beating,” she told this publication.
Lowhar was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Skeldon Hospital and then transferred to the New Amsterdam where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Meanwhile, the Police said the accident occurred at about 18:40h.
Reports are the truck driver told the Police that he was about to overtake the jeep, when Lowhar made a right turn a short distance in front of his lorry and in the process, the left front of the lorry collided with the right side of the jeep.
The Police said a breathalyser test was conducted on the driver and his alcohol level was above the legal level. A close relative of the driver said the lorry driver was overtaking another sand truck being driven by his son when he collided with the car.
Meanwhile, Rohan Singh, 45, on Number 52 Village was refused bail when he appeared before Magistrate Alex Moore on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Police Prosecutor, Inspector Orin Joseph told the court that the Police are preparing other charges for Singh and asked for bail to be refused.
He was remanded to prison and the case will continue on June 9 when other charges are expected to be filed against him.
