The Linden community of Guyana was on Saturday morning left in a state of shock and mourning when popular businessman Collis “Tom” Mentis, 37, plunged to his death after careening his vehicle off the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge.
The incident occurred about 08:15h. Mentis, who sold beverages prior to his death, was at the time driving a white Tundra pick-up GRR 4634, which crashed head-on into the centre of the bridge railing, before ending up in the Demerara River.
Reports are that Mentis was at the time of the accident returning to his home at Fairs’ Rust, Mackenzie, after attending an “All White” glow party last Friday evening held at the Christianburg Community Centre Ground, Wismar, Linden.
An eyewitness who worked at the bridge, which connects Mackenzie to the Wismar shore, related that Mentis was speeding at the time that he approached the western end of the bridge and had proceeded to cross; however, the eyewitness reportedly did not observe when the vehicle crashed and made its way downward into the river.
Staff at the bridge noted that they did not notice that anything was amiss until a few minutes later when someone observed that the rail along the bridge was dislocated. The toll booth where the staff operates is located on the eastern end of the bridge (Mackenzie), in the direction where Mentis was heading.
“We didn’t even hear nor see anything that happened, the boy who was working the (bridge) barriers said he noticed this vehicle coming with a speed, but he take he eye off of it for some time, but he said when he looked back he couldn’t believe that the vehicle made it across the bridge so fast. Is till when somebody come and tell we the man just fly over the bridge then we run and look in the river, but all we see is a set of bubbles coming up in the river, nothing more,” the eyewitness said.
Soon after the incident, hundreds gathered at the scene as a rescue team made up of several persons, including two public-spirited divers identified only as “Chucky” and “Nally”, began a frantic search for Mentis and his vehicle in the river, which were hours later recovered only a short distance from the place on the bridge where it went down.
