Conflicting reports surface following death of taxi driver

Montrose 3-vehicle smash-up

– family says he had plans to reunite with his wife

By La’Wanda McAllister

The shock is still very raw for the family of a 41-year-old man who was killed following a three-vehicle collision on the Montrose Public Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD), on Saturday afternoon.

Eric Suk Mangal, also known as Trevor Mangal or “whistle”, a taxi driver of Lot 52 Industry Crown Dam, ECD, succumbed to severe injuries sustained from the accident.
It was reported that at about 15:20h on the day in question, motor car PXX 2522, in which the now dead man was an occupant, slammed into two parked vehicles.

An eyewitness noted that after hitting the two vehicles, the car spun several times before hitting the median and coming to a halt. Mangal was reportedly flung out of the car, and fell onto the roadway. He died on the spot.
As paramedics arrived on the scene, Mangal was examined and pronounced dead. The body was taken to Lyken’s Funeral Home.
However, the dead man’s sister, Natasha Ishrilall, in an interview with Guyana Times said that the family is still in a state of shock by her brother’s sudden death.
The woman recalled that she was at home when she received a telephone call from an unknown caller, informing her that Mangal was involved in an accident, and she should make her way to the hospital.
“Somebody called me and tell me to go to the hospital and see your brother, I asked what happened to my brother, and they said your brother was in an accident. That is all I heard from the individual, I don’t know who is the individual but the person knew my number and they called me… “I went straight to the hospital and when I view my brother, he was already dead, he was there on the stretcher lying down,” she explained.
Mangal’s sister said that her brother was at home having his lunch when a group of his friends came to their house and insisted that he go out with them. She added that when he left, he did not say exactly where they were heading.
“My sister told me, because she was the one that was home with him, she said that he was at home eating and when the guys came up with white car to take him out. The last words he said to my sister was ‘gosh, them in even giving me no rest. I can’t even eat lil food’. He left and he went with them,” she said.
It is alleged that Mangal was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident and that he was racing with another car. But the family is holding out that he was not driving the car at the time of the fatal accident.
In addition, she could not ascertain if the car in which her brother was travelling was speeding since she has no evidence to prove that.
She is also claiming that there have been several reports of what really transpired on the fateful day.
“We are waiting on the footage, this is footage, we were made to understand that they are footage. They have cameras there, so we are waiting on that, and that is where the truth has to come out.”
On that note, the woman accused the police of withholding the CCTV footage that has been uplifted from nearby premises.
“I don’t believe that Police should stop the people from showing the video. That video should have already been out. I was made to understand that the police is stopping the individual from leaking the video, and that shouldn’t have been done.”
Before Mangal met his demise, he had high hopes of reuniting with his wife that lives in the United States of America (USA). He was described by his family as a hardworking and “very nice person” who would go out of his way for his family.
He leaves to mourn his wife and three children. Investigations are ongoing.