Tobago police are probing the circumstances surrounding an accident which claimed the lives of two men.
The head-on collision happened shortly after 4 pm on Friday along the Claude Noel Highway near the Gulf City Mall in Lowlands and the dead men have been identified as Hector Kennedy and David King.
Guardian Media understands the accident happened on the shoulder of the eastbound lane of the highway.
According to reports, King, of Daniel Trace, Carnbee, was driving his car from east to west while Kennedy, of Union Village, was travelling in the opposite direction in his panel van when the vehicles collided.
A wrecker removes David King's car following an accident along the Claude Noel Highway in Tobago on Friday.
Casandra Thompson-Forbes
Firefighters had to use the ‘jaws of life’ to free both men from their vehicles.
Fire officials said King was unresponsive when he was removed and rushed to the Scarborough General Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Kennedy’s legs were mangled as he suffered multiple severe fractures to his lower body. He succumbed to his injuries Saturday morning.
A two-year-old toddler who was in King's vehicle escaped unhurt. Eyewitnesses said he was found lying on King's lifeless body when firefighters cut through the car. The child is still warded at the hospital under observation.
Investigators say they are unsure of what caused the accident.
Firefighters had to use the jaws of life to remove David King and Hector Kennedy after their vehicles were involved in a head-on collision along the Claude Noel Highway on Friday.
However, speaking at the scene Friday, Divisional Fire Officer David Joseph-Thomas said, "There was no brake impression at the scene. What this implies is that no one applied brakes so both or one of the drivers might have been distracted or unaware of what was happening."
This is the second fatal accident on the Claude Noel Highway in less than a month. On October 28, soldier McKeon Eastman, 31, also died when the vehicle he was driving hit the guard railing be¬tween All Fields Crown Trace and Gulf City Mall.