Lucky escape for persons in Pembroke accident

A motorist involved in a vehicular accident at Pembroke yesterday afternoon counts himself lucky.

“I am lucky to be standing here,” Cornelius Barbour told SEARCHLIGHT, after realizing that other persons involved in the accident had been hospitalized.

Barbour said he was travelling in a blue Toyota Cami PS370 from the direction of Kingstown along the Pembroke stretch, when just at the corner before the area of Greaves supermarket, passenger van Toyota HIACE HV875, branded “BAGGA”, coming from the opposite direction, struck the driver side of his vehicle, then ricocheted onto a truck behind him, before stopping on a nearby bank.

The Toyota truck, T2590, licensed to K Velox of Layou, appeared to have also been struck on the driver’s side. The heavily laden truck was shoved to the side of the road by the minivan.

According to a resident of the area, the driver of the minivan was pinned in the van by crushed metal, which had to be cut away by onlookers who came to his assistance after the collision.

A man travelling on the back of the truck was rushed to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), along with some of the passengers of the minibus.

At press time, the driver of the minibus and at least one student of the Buccament Bay Secondary School (BBSS), who was a passenger in the vehicle, had been hospitalized. SEARCHLIGHT understands that the hospitalized student sustained a broken arm. At least three other students from the BBSS were treated at the MCMH and discharged.

Two other passengers in the minivan were also spotted at the hospital, one wearing a neck brace and the other with one hand bandaged.

However, attempts to approach the victims for comment were thwarted by an overzealous security guard, who physically pulled one of the victims away as this reporter was conducting an interview.

Teachers of the students were also at the MCMH enquiring about the welfare of their students.(AS)