Fifty-one-year-old Nicholas Khelawon of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara was, in the wee hours of Tuesday, killed after being struck down by a speeding minibus which lost control after it attempted to avoid colliding with a motorcar.
Based on reports received, minibus BZZ 1192 was at the time being driven by a 29-year-old resident of Kaikan Street in North Ruimveldt, Georgetown; and at the time of the accident, five other persons were in the minibus: four teenagers and a 20-year-old.
Dead: Nicholas Khelawon
Preliminary investigations into the accident revealed that the minibus was proceeding along the Uitvlugt Public Road at a fast rate when, as alleged by the driver, at about 3:19h, a motor car made a sudden ‘U-turn’ in front of the bus, and this caused him to swerve right to avoid a collision.
In the process, the minibus collided with the pedestrian, who was standing on the grass parapet alongside the roadway, and reportedly ended up crashing into a house. The
pedestrian sustained extensive injuries about his body, and the driver and the occupants of the minibus also sustained injuries about their bodies.
Public-spirited persons rushed the injured and unconscious pedestrian to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, along with the driver and occupants of the minibus. The pedestrian was however pronounced dead on arrival, while the driver was treated and sent away. The other passengers were admitted as patients. The driver was subsequently taken into custody to assist with investigations.
The mangled minibus after the accident
The owner of the house has been captured in a video seen by Guyana Times relating that he and his family were asleep when they heard a loud crashing sound that caused his house to shake. As he ran outside, he saw the mangled minibus with the driver and occupants inside. He said the
first thing they managed to do was to pull persons from the wreckage, and it was during that time they realized that Khelawon was lying dead on the roadway.
The minibus, he added, “took away (his) wall and a step that (he uses) to access the upper flat of his house”.
