RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Just a week before her 23rd birthday, Reane Nayan and her boyfriend Andre Ross died in a car crash along the M2 Ring Road in Golconda. The 700-metre strip of roadway, known by residents as the death strip, has claimed more than a dozen lives within the past decade.
Ross was a former Guardian Media journalism intern, of Mafeking Village, Mayaro, who had a photography business and wanted to become a journalist.
The couple had been together for almost three years and were described by their families as a match made in heaven.
They had gone to San Fernando to buy an alarm and were returning to Nayan’s home around 10.30 am yesterday when the Honda Civic in which they were travelling collided with a Toyota Fortuner driven by Habsraj Rajkumar, 69, a retiree, of 589 Mc Bean Village, Couva.
Police said Rajkumar was heading east along the M2 Ring Road, Golconda when the accident occurred near the NGC Booster Station. The blue Civic driven by Ross was heading in the opposite direction.
Nayan and Ross died on the spot.
Sgt Nandlal, Sgt Ramdhanie, and a party of officers visited the scene and took Rajkumar to the hospital.
Accident victims Andre Ross and Reane Nayan
Nayan’s father Steven said he was in shock over the accident.
“That’s my daughter. They went to San Fernando and were coming back home. They went to buy an alarm for the car. We called and the phone ring but she didn’t answer. Then we got a message that they crashed on the Ring Road,” he said.
Nayan’s twin sister Leane said her sister had just finished UWI and was working as an OJT at the Clarke Road Hindu School.
“She had intentions of pursuing her Masters after. We are twins. It was so unexpected. I never expected this,” she said.
Leane, who is also doing her Masters, said on the night before the accident, her sister assisted her with a presentation for school.
“I was preparing for a presentation for my Masters and she sat in the room and made sure I was not nervous. There is nothing we did not do together. I don’t know how to continue without her. I don’t know life without her,” Leane sobbed.
She urged drivers to be more alert on the nation’s roads.
“I am not even sure who lose control. It is important for everyone to stay safe and always be alert. It doesn’t matter if you or them. If you are alert, it could be avoided,” she said.
She added that she and her sister had a secret language and could not do without each other. She said Ross also worked as an OJT and although they lived far apart, they always made time for each other.
Police officers conduct their investigation into the fatal accident that claimed the lives of Reane Nayan and Andrea Ross on the M2 Ring Road in Golconda, yesterday.
RISHI RAGOONATH
Over the past decade over a dozen people have died in that area near the NGC Booster station. Last year, 39-year-old Prakash “Dave” Roopnarine, of Munroe Road, Chaguanas and 16-year-old Reshma Rambarran, a student of ASJA Girls College, also died in a vehicular accident in the same area.