Teen dies after tyre explodes at Linden vulcanizing shop

A young man who worked at Johnson’s Mechanic Shop at Kara Kara, Linden lost his life during a workplace accident on Monday.

Reports are that the man, identified as 19-year-old Joshown Goddard, was filling a tyre with air when it exploded.

Police Headquarters in a statement noted that his ranks are investigating an incident that resulted in the death of Goddard. The incident occurred at around 1.20 pm yesterday.

According to Maverline Johnson, a 69-year-old residing at Old Kara Kara, Goddard was a family friend employed as a labourer in her family’s vulcanizing shop for the past year.

Johnson stated that yesterday she was upstairs in her home while her granddaughter Feneta Johnson, a 25-year-old, was inside the ‘wash bay’ about 30 meters from the workshop. Goddard was in the ‘tyre shop’ attending to a truck tyre when Johnson said she heard a loud explosion from the vulcanizing shop.

The woman said she looked through her window and heard her granddaughter scream.

Johnson said she rushed into the workshop and observed Goddard lying motionless with a wound to his neck and what appeared to be blood oozing.

The matter was reported to the police and when ranks arrived on the scene, the body was observed to be in a pool of blood, clad in short black pants, a green jersey and black slippers. The body was examined, and a gaping wound was seen in the centre region of the neck. Several tyres, rims and tyre shop tools were discovered around the body.

The body was escorted to the Linden Hospital Complex and pronounced dead on arrival by a doctor. The body is presently lying at a mortuary, awaiting a post-mortem examination.