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Two firefighters are dead, while four
others are nursing injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital after
their tender they were in plunged into the Montrose Guysuco Pump
Basin around 11:00 h yesterday morning.
The fire tender still in the Pump Basin at
about 14:00 h.
Dead are Wilfred Harry, 28, of 43
Company Road Buxton, and David Fowler, 32, of Williamstad Road North
Ruimveldt. Both men were pronounced dead on arrival at the
hospital..
According
to eyewitnesses the fire tender, coming from a fire in Buxton, was
speeding west along the East Coast Highway when it hit a Sheriff
Taxi which was proceeding east along the road. In an attempt to stop
rashly, eyewitnesses said, the driver of the vehicle and it ended up
in the basin.
The tender pinned the firemen under
it.
Eyewitness Roy Sukdeo - one of
the few people to venture into the water to assist -- told the
Guyana Chronicle that the other firefighter who died had been flung
from the vehicle and got stuck in the mud in the basin.
"When
I watch", said Sukdeo, "I see all the fire hose flying,
two guys were pinned there, we did not know that one was pinned in
the mud, so no one knew about him until they counted the men and
said 'Where is the other guy?'
"Then
they rushed back in the mud and they find him. When this thing
happened, the firemen did not really know what to do, so they
running and falling down and people had to assist them."
Sukdeo said that the ordeal went from
bad to worse when the man who was pinned by the vehicle was crushed
by it, and when they tried to remove the vehicle with a chain, the
chain snapped.
"They
were using a chain, but the chain burst and it fall back on the guy
in the mud... The whole truck fell on him.
Sukdeo
said that it was not until a man brought a big rope used to anchor
boats that they were able to get the man from underneath the truck.
Both of the deceased firemen are fathers of little children. Harry,
who celebrated his birthday yesterday, has a six week old child.
Fowler, has three children -- David, Zenobia and Angel --
with a fourth along the way. Fowler's relatives remember him as a
'very quiet' person, who had a love for his job.
One
of the eyewitnesses, Seecharran could have also died if he did not
act fast. He had to leave his Honda 70 motorcycle which he was
riding east along the highway and run across the road when he saw
the fire tender coming towards him. His motorcycle was badly damaged
by the tender.
"I see the fire truck since from the turn swaying, so I had
ample time to see what was going on, when it turned the turn it
lashed a car, but after I see it turning and turning [losing
control] and coming in my direction, I run across the road."
The
man said that his bike is damaged beyond repair; he noted that the
only good thing left on the bike is the engine.
Some
persons living along the area where the accident happened, even
though saddened by the two deaths, are of the opinion that the turn
is cursed, and that fatal accidents occur there often..
"Every
year some body always dead here," one man said. A group of boys
agreed with him. Another person at the scene, who lives and works
nearby, noted that coming on to Christmas time, accidents, some
fatal, always happens in the area.
One
man even related that, according to old stories, the area is guarded
by 'Dutchmen' who control the roadways.
Monday,
October 17, 2005
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