Freeport residents save motorists after crash

A Jamaican national is lucky to be alive, after crashing his car into an electrical control room in Freeport on Monday night. Residents of the area, who are still coming to terms with the deaths of two young men from their village—Sheldon Ramdial and Keshav Ragoo—who died on February 22, when the car they were travelling in burst into flames on the South bound lane of the Freeport flyover, rushed to remove the man from the vehicle, in fear that it would catch afire.

The man, identified at the scene as Kevin Smith, ran off the road and into the electrical panel room in the Arena Recreation Ground. Eyewitnesses said he was heading east along the roadway when he veered off the road and into the concrete structure which powers the lights at the recreation ground. Also in the car was an Arena resident, identified only as Neil. The man sustained cuts to his face and neck and was taken to hospital by family members.

Dale Hosein, a resident who witnessed the accident, gave his account of how the incident happened. “Me and my friend were coming down the road, when we saw this car approaching, he was driving on the wrong side of the road, the right side, without any lights on, he was driving very fast and right in front of us, he just run off the road into the panel room.” Hosein said he believed the man might have fallen asleep at the wheel. 

“I think he fall asleep while driving and he just ram straight into it (panel room)...we thought for sure he was dead after that.” Realising Smith was trapped in the car, the residents used a hacksaw to cut the door post and free him. Officers from the Couva Fire Station and a T&TEC crew responded to the accident.