Tragedy strikes GMR&SC meet
Two children killed after racing car slams bus
By Steve Ninvalle
and Nigel Williams
Stabroek News
November 4, 2002
Two children were killed and four persons injured when a racing car hurtled through a fence and into the crowd at the South Dakota Circuit yesterday.
Englishman David Brodie lost control of his Ford Cosworth Escort in the third lap of the first Group Three race causing him to careen through the chain-link fence.
It resulted in his vehicle slamming into a number of spectators gathered to watch the event in the Gavin Naraine International Motor Racing meeting at Timehri. The incident occurred at approximately 11:45 am.
Dead are Dyna and Ashton De Souza six and three years old respectively of 22 Austin Street, Campbellville. They were in a mini-bus parked behind the fence. The race meet was subsequently called off.
One eyewitness who preferred to remain anonymous said that everything happened in a couple of seconds.
"One time we were watching the race and the next thing is that the car end up in the back of the mini-bus. People dashed to get out of the way but some were caught," he said. Other persons were too dazed and shell-shocked to speak about what they had just witnessed. Following the collision, medical personnel there for the meet quickly rushed to the scene to tend to the injured.
The children had gone to the race meet to watch their father Curtis De Souza and uncle Rohit Singh who were slated to compete yesterday.
Those injured were the children's mother Basmattie De Souza and their cousins 17-year-old Sandy and seven-year-old Keisha Singh of Lot 4133 North Ruimveldt and Azeemoon Azeez, 38, of 2874 North Ruimveldt Georgetown. All four of the injured were X-rayed and underwent surgery yesterday. With the exception of Azeez, who was later discharged, the other three were admitted and are said to be in stable conditions.
Relating what he described as a tragedy, the children's grandfather Balwant Singh told Stabroek News yesterday at the Georgetown Hospital that they were all sitting in the mini-bus which was parked behind the fence when the tragedy struck.
"Everyone was upbeat about going to the circuit. You see, it was the first time Rohit was going to race so everybody was happy to see him perform and the children were excited."
Singh who was the driver of the mini-bus said that around 8 am yesterday morning the children, their mother along with Sandy, Keisha and Azeemoon joined the mini-bus and they headed to the circuit. He said Rohit and Curtis did not travel with them.
According to Singh they had just viewed two races and were about to view the third race. "At the time I was sitting in my son small bus, (along with) my big daughter, my last daughter, three grandchildren and my son's mother-in-law with her son."
Singh said that he was reading a copy of the Sunday Stabroek at the time when he felt a sudden, violent impact in the rear of the mini-bus.
"When I do realise the whole back of the bus left side was tear away, the fence tear away. When I do jump out I saw Dyna and Ashton lying lifeless on the ground and both of them looked as if they had suffered a broken leg each."
He said next to their mini-bus there were two cars on either side about three feet apart but neither was hit. Singh said he also observed the children's mother who was sitting next to the vehicle's door writhing in pain. Singh, whose lips were bleeding yesterday, said that with the impact of the crash he hit his mouth against the windshield which was also shattered. At the time the race car crashed into the bus, both Curtis and Rohit were in the race pit awaiting their turn on the circuit.
About one hour after the crash the children were taken to the Georgetown Hospital where they were pronounced dead and shortly after, seventeen-year-old Sandy arrived in an ambulance. She was seen at the hospital with her head bandaged and bleeding from her nose. Keisha on the other hand had one of her legs bandaged while Basmattie and Azeez were all observed with scratch marks on their faces and were complaining of severe head pains.
The parents of the children are joint owners with Rohit of Dyna's Embroidery. While expressing his grief to reporters the visibly shaken grandfather said "these things do happen but we have to band ourselves to get Curtis and Basmatie in line back because it is very heartaching."
Yesterday, Curtis who sat in the ambulance which transported the bodies from South Dakota to the hospital was too distraught to speak.
Lamenting the infrastructure in place at the circuit, Singh said "had there been a better fence the car would not have crashed into the mini-bus."
He observed that the circuit has chain-link fencing but there is no barrier. He opined that if the authorities at the circuit had erected a four-foot high concrete wall with steel protection the accident might have been averted. Sturdy barriers are in place at race venues in the Caribbean.
When contacted, President of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Stanley Ming said that legal advice is being sought to ascertain if the club has any liability to the families of those killed and injured in the accident.
"I would not want to comment on that until we speak to our legal people," Ming said.
According to Ming, signs were put up around the track warning spectators to be at least 20 feet from the fence. He noted that motor racing is a dangerous sport but the GMR&SC will be taking a closer look at safety.
"We will definitely redo and review the safety aspects of the track but there is no guarantee that there would not be another accident," Ming said.
Ming promised that an investigation will be launched.
"We will go through all the formalities. We will investigate as much as possible." The GMR&SC met on the accident last evening and was to issue a statement last night.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport yesterday expressed deep regret at the deaths and offered condolences to the family of the deceased. It said it will be investigating the causes of the accident and will be asking the GMR&SC to submit a detailed report. When this is done, the ministry said it will be prepared to meet the GMR&SC.
In a release, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Gail Teixeira said that the tragedy "exemplifies the fact that the safety of spectators and of sportsmen and women must at all times be a primary and overriding concern for the organisers". She added that the GMR&SC will have to prioritise its needs and focus on the safety of both the drivers and spectators in keeping with international motor racing rules and requirements.
Teixeira noted that in 1993 her ministry undertook a similar investigation with the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) of an incident at the Bourda sward during an international one-day match which put the safety of the players at risk. She said that the GCB and the Georgetown Cricket Club took corrective action as a result of the findings. Teixeira said that President Bharrat Jagdeo, though overseas at the time, was in direct contact with Ming after being alerted to the accident. Through Teixeira, the President offered his sympathy to the families of the dead and injured.
The race meet was named for Gavin Naraine who died in the assault by gunmen on Natoo's bar in Kitty in September.
Brodie, the driver of the car which smashed through the fence, arrived in Guyana last Monday as the leader of the four-man English racing team.
Yesterday's accident was said to be the worst in recent memory at the races. Almost ten years ago to the day, tragedy struck when Scottish biker Colin McCamley was fatally injured during time trials for a race meet. He fell on November 7, 1992 after a collision with another biker. McCamley, who had been a regular competitor here died in Trinidad and Tobago where he had been airdashed following the spill. (Additional reporting by Edlyn Benfield)