Heroic dad sacrifices life to save son

Mukesh Nanan sacrificed his life to save the lives of his son and two other teenagers in an early morning crash yesterday. Nanan, a 46-year-old PH taxi driver of Moosai Trace, Williamsville, died while undergoing treatment for injuries he sustained when a car collided with his car on the Rivulet Road, Couva.

Relatives hailed Nanan as a hero. They believe he gave up his life to save the lives of his 18-year-old son Nicolas and friends, Mikkel Rampersad, 16, and Ravi Dass, 17, who were passengers in the car. The three teenagers escaped with minor injuries.

When the T&T Guardian visited Nanan’s family yesterday his mother, Gulin, 63, was inconsolable. “I cannot believe my son gone. Why God? Why you take my child? Oh God papa why you leave me and gone?” the grieving mother cried. Jassodra Baby Ramkelawan, a relative hugged Gulin as she screamed for her son.

Nanan was also the father of Mellinda, 11, and Melissa, 15. Gulin said Nanan went to Couva to collect Nicolas and his friends at a birthday party. She said Nicolas, a deejay, went to the party to play music and took his friends along. Nanan, she said, left home around 3 am to collect the teens and while driving along Rivulet Road another car crossed the median and crashed into her son’s car.

She said she was awoken around 4 am when she  heard her daughter-in-law speaking on the telephone. “I ask her what happen and she said Mukesh and Nicolas get in accident, a bad accident,” she said. She said Mukesh “tried to save the children in the car. He turned the car.”

Gulin, a market vendor, said her son was a “blessed child” who would take her to sell her goods at market in San Fernando. She said the driver and the passenger in the other vehicle were two young girls. Police officers assigned to the Couva Police Station are continuing investigations.