2 dead, 1 injured after car & bike collide in Berbice

…5 motorcyclists die on Corentyne Highway in 5 weeks

Thirty-year-old Devindra Lakhraj, a beverage distribution agent of Rahaman Street Corriverton, and 24-year-old Ronny Persaud, a spray painter of Springlands, are now dead following their involvement in an accident on Tuesday, February 28, along the Number 79 Village public road in Corriverton, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
Reports are that these two men were travelling on a motorcycle that Lakhraj was driving with Persaud as the pillion rider. They were proceeding north along the western side of the Number 79 Public Road at a fast rate of speed, and neither of them was wearing a safety helmet.
A motorcar occupied by the driver and a passenger was proceeding south along the eastern lane of that said road when, at around 22:00hrs, the bike allegedly collided with the front of the motorcar, and the biker and his pillion rider were sent flying.

Having sustained severe injuries to their heads and other parts of their bodies, the biker and pillion rider, along with the driver and passenger of the motorcar, were taken to the Skeldon Public Hospital, where the two bikers were pronounced dead on arrival.
According to Persaud’s mother, Ramkumari Persaud, the two friends had gone to a pre-Phagwah event, and might have been heading home when the crash occurred.
“He say he going and visit his friend ‘Lil Boy’, ‘and when I come back I would eat’, but he never came back. I didn’t see him back until last night [Tuesday night when] I see him on the table,” she related.
And Lakhraj’s wife, Alfazeema Ally, said she did not know where her husband had left to go. According to the cook, she was at work when he called to find out what time she was coming off from work; and when that time arrived, he called again and she informed him that she would be working late.

“When I try to call him back, I did not get through, and at about 11 O’clock, somebody called me and told me that he meet up with an accident,” she explained. She said that when she arrived at the hospital, she was informed that her husband had died.
“His lip buss up, the skin on his foot come off, and his two feet brake up,” the woman said as she described the injuries she saw on her husband’s body.
She said Lakhraj had owned the bike for more than one year.

2nd child to die
Meanwhile, Persaud said it was the second child she had lost within six months. And since August, the now-dead pillion rider had been comforting her and had spent every night very close to her.
“I had three sons. Last August I bury one, and now again ah got to bury a next one. I don’t know if I can make this,” the grieving mother said as she burst into tears.
Meanwhile, Police have said the 39-year-old passenger of the car, a resident of Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, was later transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, and admitted a patient suffering from head injuries.
The driver of the motorcar is in custody.

Corentyne Highway accidents
Over the past five weeks, several motorcyclists have died as a result of crashes on the Corentyne Highway.
On January 27, Noel Channan, also called “Titoo Bai,” 23, a tattoo artist and labourer of Ankerville, Port Mourant, Corentyne, died after the motorcycle he was riding crashed into a parked car along the Alness Public Road.
Prior to the accident, he had been imbibing as part of his birthday celebrations, and was reportedly doing a stunt on the bike when he lost control of the vehicle and it slammed into a car.
On February 8, Kelon Scott 24, of Limlair Village, Corentyne, crashed into a parked lorry at Auchlyne. A part of the motorcycle’s handle went through the man’s leg, making it impossible for residents to remove him and take him to a medical facility.
On February 13, Vickram Basdeo, also called ‘Boyo’, 27, of Number 71 Village, Corentyne Berbice, was killed after a car ended up in his lane and crashed into his motorcycle. The pillion rider was injured in that crash.
On February 18, Altar Lalman died after crashing his motorcycle into a car at Linepath, Skeldon.
Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken has expressed concern over the use of the country’s roadways by this category of road users.
“We are going to step up the enforcement, it is necessary for us to do that. The category of road users that is giving us problems is the motorcyclist; so we are going to start a campaign, but we are going to enforce and sensitise them in terms of how they should use the road,” the Top Cop said on Monday. (G4)