The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) has extended condolences and pledged support to the affected families of veteran bus driver Munsaf Khan and SWAT Estate Police Company officer Roxanne Phillip, following Tuesday’s fatal crash that claimed the lives of the two.
“The corporation extends its deepest sympathy to all those affected by this tragic accident. We are providing counselling services to support the families of the deceased, as well as the injured passengers and their loved ones during this difficult time,” PTSC said in a statement yesterday.
It added that officials had contacted Khan’s sister and Phillip’s relatives to offer direct support and assistance.
The tragedy occurred just over a week after PTSC recertified Khan. He left City Gate, Port-of-Spain, in a Deluxe Coach bound for King’s Wharf, San Fernando, around 8 am. About 300 metres past the Freeport interchange, the bus slammed into the back of a flatbed truck that authorities said had just suddenly left the shoulder.
The impact hurled the truck into the highway median and flung Phillip, a mother from Princes Town who had just completed a night shift at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, through the windscreen. The bus eventually came to a stop in the bushes off the shoulder.
Khan died instantly, pinned inside the mangled front of the bus, while Phillip’s body was later found beneath the wreckage.
There were 23 other passengers on the bus, several of whom were injured.
