3 unhurt after car plunges 25 feetBy LAUREL V WILLIAMS Monday, March 24 2008
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Crash dive: Passersby gaze at the Mazda 323 car which Donnel Lewis, and two others escaped from unhurt after they crashed over the San Fernando overpa...
IT was a miracle escape from death on Easter Sunday for three occupants of a car which ran off the San Fernando overpass and plunged 25 feet into the Cipero River.
The driver, Donnel Lewis, 21, of St Margarets Village, Claxton Bay, as well as the two occupants had to crawl out of the overturned car and they did so without a scratch.
The incident took place at about 4am yesterday when in an attempt to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle, Lewis careened off the overpass.
Yesterday, the Mazda 323 was overturned and lying flat on the river bed which luckily for the occupants had only a few inches of water.
Throngs of people gathered on the overpass to gaze at the vehicle 25 feet below.
Lewis, his cousin Darnell Lewis, 22, and friend Miguel Kinsale, 22, were at the time returning to their homes in Claxton Bay after attending a lime at a La Romaine night club.
Standing on the overpass with relatives later yesterday, Lewis said he was approaching the overpass driving north, when a car attempted to overtake him but in doing so, the driver swerved into the front of him forcing him off the road. Lewis said he believed the car and another vehicle were racing.
“One of the cars went speeding towards the Cipero Road, but the other was on my side on the overpass. I was close to the pavement and the car started speeding near mine.
“I attempted to pull aside to avoid a collision. But I lost control of my car, which knocked off the iron barrier and plunged down,” Lewis said. The driver of the other car did not stop.
Lewis recalled that after his car struck the iron bar, it flipped once before landing on the bank. It slid down the slippery slope and landed on the hood on the river bed.
Lewis, a data entry clerk at the South-West Regional Health Authority, crawled out of the vehicle and telephoned the police. The trio were taken in an EHS ambulance to the San Fernando General Hospital where they were treated and discharged.
“I cannot remember what type or colour of car it was. That time of the morning we could not see much. But all I know we came out without injuries despite the wrecked car. I came out in one piece so I consider myself very lucky to be alive,” Lewis added.
His mother Joan Lewis said she was asleep when she received a telephone call about the incident. “When I got the call I was in my bed. Thank God Donnel, my only son, is alive. It’s a miracle those boys survived. When drivers are on the road they need to consider that people’s lives at stake, ” Joan said.
