Teen dies after falling off truck in Berbice

Dead: Travis Blair
Dead: Travis Blair

A teenager died on Sunday evening after he allegedly fell off a moving truck, which was transporting a music system in the vicinity of the Number Five Village Public Road, West Coast Berbice.

Dead is Travis Blair, 18, of Lot 118 Peters Street, Ithaca Village, West Bank Berbice. Reports are that the teenager, along with others, was at the back of the lorry, which was packed with several speaker boxes when one of the pallets shifted causing the young man to lose his balance and subsequently fall off the truck.

Guyana Times understands that the now dead teenager and a group of youngsters had accompanied the owners and the DJ of the music system to a horse race meet at Rising Sun, West Coast Berbice, on Sunday and were heading home when the accident occurred.

Blair, from all indications, sustained a broken neck upon landing on the roadway. An eyewitness told Guyana Times that the speaker boxes shifted on account of a heavy wind in the area. He noted that another young man managed to hold onto the rail and the screams of those in the back of the truck alerted the driver to the mishap.

Upon bringing the vehicle to a halt, the driver and the group of young men ran towards Blair and found him in an unconscious state. He was bleeding profusely from the head. He was picked up and taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Shevon Nicholson, an aunt of the dead teenager, explained that she was informed of the incident by way of a telephone call: “We get the call that he fall off the canter and we rush to the scene, by time then the ambulance did taking him to Georgetown Hospital, we drive behind the ambulance; before we reach, them said he dead.” Blair would frequent events at which the “Thunderbolt” music system was hired to play.

He was described as a very helpful individual. He leaves to mourn his parents and two siblings. The driver of the truck was taken into Police custody and is assisting with the investigations.