A two-vehicle accident on the Valencia Stretch on Monday night claimed the life of a four-year-old girl and left another man warded in a critical condition at the Port-of -Spain General Hospital.
Lexie Baptiste, of Matura Village, Matura, succumbed to her injuries while doctors were trying their best to save her at the Sangre Grande Hospital. She was reported to have suffered a fractured skull and other bodily injuries in the accident.
Govindra Akaloo, who was seated in the back right seat of the B15 vehicle the family was travelling in, suffered head, facial and body injuries. The other members of the Baptiste family suffered minor injuries and were treated and discharged.
Police said around 8.30 pm Monday, a Coelho bread truck was heading west along the Valencia Stretch when on reaching near St Alban’s Road it is alleged the vehicles in front the truck slowed down. The truck driver pulled away from the left lane into the right lane and collided with the B15 the Baptistes were in.
Police from Sangre Grande, Valencia, the Fire Service and ambulances responded.
Little Lexie was removed from the car, placed in a police vehicle and rushed to the Sangre Grande District Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The other occupants of the car, which included the child’s mother Joan Mitchell, brothers Nigel and Nicholas and friend Akaloo, were later placed in a Fire Service ambulance and taken to the Sangre Grande Hospital.
RALPH BANWARIE