Victims in ECD accident were imbibing alcohol minutes before
-3 were Transport & Harbours Dept. employees
By Isanella Patoir
The four persons killed in Wednesday’s horrific accident between a car and a canter truck on the Montrose Public Road, East Coast of Demerara (ECD) were reportedly drinking moments before the accident.
One of the victims, 54-year-old Lyndon Pryce was a machine operator at the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) and he was celebrating his pre-retirement leave Wednesday when the dreadful accident occurred.
Relatives told the News Room that the friends were consuming alcohol at LBI.
The three others who died have been identified as 35-year-old Chris Bradshaw of Queenstown, Georgetown – he was the driver of the car and was employed as an engineer with T&HD – 40-year-old Leknarine Sewpaul, a marine engineer also employed with the same company who resided in Da Silva Street, Kitty, Georgetown and 31-year-old Latoya Jones of South Better Hope, East Coast Demerara.
Jones was in the front passenger seat of the car while Sewpaul and Pryce were in the back seat. The accident occurred at about 17:55h and according to the Police, Bradshaw was speeding in the direction of Georgetown when he lost control after negotiating a right bend and collided into the median.
The driver then ended up on the northern carriageway into the path of the canter which was proceeding east.
When the News Room visited Pryce’s home at Vryheid’s Lust, his wife Cheryl said she heard he was involved in an accident but she was not told he died.
Pryce worked with the T&HD for over 40 years; the wife said he left home after 10:00h on Wednesday to visit his mother and then left to visit some friends.
“After that I haven’t seen him,” the woman said.
The couple was married for 11 years.
The lone female in the accident – Jones – was identified as a friend of Pryce and according to her stepmother, Loraine Jones, the young woman was returning home at the time of the accident.
“They were going home now when the car tyre blowout according to information and the car just collide with the truck,” Loraine told the News Room.
“It’s just a friend and she decided to go out with them and that’s how she ended up in the accident with them,” Loraine said.
As a result of the accident, Jones suffered severe injuries about her body; her head was also smashed in and her teeth were knocked out.
Meanwhile, the wife of Sewpaul, Juliet Sewpaul said she was not aware he was involved in the accident. She said her husband usually works one week on the marine ship and then comes home for a week. He was supposed to return home on Wednesday.
The couple shared three young children together and was married for 13 years.
Juliet said the last time she saw her husband was on August 05 and last spoke with him Wednesday morning.
“I spoke with him Wednesday, he works on the boat and he called and said he is getting off at midday and then he will come home…but he didn’t come home,” the woman said.
“He loved his job, his family and his friends.”
The family of Bradshaw did not wish to speak with the media.
