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Three friends perish in car crash
Published: 7 May 2009
Three best friends who refused to heed their parents’ warning against drinking and driving were burnt to death in a vehicular accident yesterday while returning from a popular nightclub in Port-of-Spain. They have been identified as Nicholas Ramdeen, 26, of Palmyra, Chris Ramlagan, 25, of Gasparillo, and Johann Saney, 23, of Palmiste. Police said Ramdeen, a Petrotrin operator, and Ramlagan, a biochemist, had gone to the popular nightclub with Saney who was studying mechanical engineering.
Tragedy struck around 4.30 am in the vicinity of the Claxton Bay Flyover. Police said Ramdeen was driving a white B14 Nissan Sentra along the Solomon Hochoy Highway when he lost control of the car and ran off the road. The car, police said, slammed into the railing and landed on the embankment before bursting into flames. All three men were burnt to death. Drivers who witnessed the accident contacted the San Fernando Police and Fire Station.
The fire officers battled for almost two hours to remove the burnt corpses from the car. The officers were also forced to use the jaws of life. The accident caused a massive traffic jam along the north and southbound lanes of the highway by drivers who all wanted to catch a glimpse of the accident.
The curiosity of the drivers resulted in 16 cars being involved in several minor accidents, among them a Prisons Service van. At the bereaved homes yesterday, Ramlagan’s brother Ryan fell to the ground on learning of his brother’s death. Holding his head, Ryan bawled: “Oh God! Oh God!. I fed up talk to him. I talked to him, I told him to be careful. What happen here...I do not know, Oh God! I talked to him, what to do?”
Some things we just can't
Some things we just can't avoid, no mater how well we drive there is still the risk of car accident from other drivers...
What an awful death, i can't
What an awful death, i can't believe there are people who would want to take a look on such a car crash, i would most surely avoid to watch the burning car... No matter if the driver was drunk or not when the accident took place, i don't think anyone deserve dieing like this. It would be nice if other drinking drivers out there would learn from this kind of accidents and stop drinking while they are behind the wheel though...
Auto Insurance Agent
There are alot of emotions
There are alot of emotions flowing here right now. The people who directly knew these guys will feel it the most.My condolences to you.Now, I understand the german trini's point of publishing news in this way to discourage future repeats of such tragedies and only this point made I actually relate to a little.The reality is for the rest of our lives accidents, murders, death will occur whichever way it happens. It is inevitable. We will all go by some cause, and it could happen just the way these guys died. I was not there that night with those guys and I was not in that car so I cannot lift a finger and point it and say they were drinking, drunk, driving and that is the cause of what happened, no.They could have fallen asleep and just so you know ppl who work shifts, police men for example, fall asleep behind steering wheels and it has nothing to do with alcohol.If the relatives said they were "warned" about their lives...lets be realistic now, we too have been "warned" by our parents/guardians if we have to go out somewhere. The word party to the many, especially the older generation usually has a stigma attached to it.Going to parties usually end up as living in the fast lane, why I dont know.Hell!We are humans and after one time is another,in fact, after one phase is another...even our damn parents have had their partying days and its okay for them to warn us when its our turn, thats what parents are for right?right.Hell this is friggin Trinidad and we promote a culture of Alcohol so all who want to submit comments as if they have never been under the influence of alcohol or never been irresponsible at certain points in their lives...think again...what??? u never went to a party or got high and drove home or was driven home under that influence? Oh puhleese...spare me from the crap.We have all been there so dont bloody pretend as if you could post your comments as if you r free of such "sins". Everyone posting comments here r irresponsible in some area of their lives.And if going to a party and driving home claimed these boys lives, falling asleep could have been the cause or someone could have given them a bad drive, an animal ran across the road, there are many reasons...the reason why we immediately say drinking, driving(insinuating drunkness)is Trinis know themselves fully well...and the majority know they could never go to any lime, fete or party and drive home sober after, SO GET REAL!!!
My dear Ms Rissa-Abby,
My dear Ms Rissa-Abby, kindly do not attempt to paint everybody with the same brush with which you paint yourself and believe it or not, not every household in T&T promotes the culture of alcohol and partying.
I am the brother of Johann
I am the brother of Johann Gary Saney and I must say that I am both very disappointed and disturbed that an established papers such as the GUARDIAN can sensationalise news of such a tragedy. The news published by The Guardian's Anika Gumbs-Sandiford on May 8, 2009 is inaccurate and goes to show the definition of irresponsible journalism. The Guardian in this case is failing to do its social duty to the public.
Amongst the many things which was reported inaccurately
(1)"Three best friends who refused to heed their parents’ warning against drinking and driving" - My parents like other parents have always told their children not to drink if they're driving. No such warning came from my parents the night when Johann left the house because he was NOT driving and more importantly is the question of whether he did fail to heed their warning.(see below -> (2))
(2) "....warning against drinking and driving" - The insinuation that they were drinking and driving is grossly inaccurate. The forensic evidence (toxicology report in my possession) showed that the driver (Nicholas) did not have any significant alcohol in his system and thereby not driving under the influence.
(3) "All three men were burnt to death" - This is untrue. While I am unable to talk of the other persons in the car; insofar as the Forensic Pathologist Report states, the passing of Johann was instantaneous and occurred as a result of "Immediate Blunt Force Cervical Trauma (MVA)"
The Saney family refused almost entirely to comment on the said morning of the tragedy. Do we pay the price for doing so because we were shocked and devastated by what had come to pass only a few hours past. Compared to the other papers, The Guardian has sensationalised its reporting on this incident. Whosoever reads this may be of the opinion that I am not being objective (i.e. my perspective is prejudiced) or am attempting to find some forum to vent my emotions. I assure all readers that this is not the case as the Pathologist Report is in black and white.
It is indeed sad to dignify a response to such an outrageously inaccurate report (I only stand to be corrected if Mrs. Anika Gumbs-Sandiford also does lab testing and is a qualified pathologist who did the autopsy on the 3 deceased; if this be the case, The Guardian hires very talented persons). Either way, I will be contacting the Guardian to express my feelings on the matter.
Thanks for all of those who have expressed their sympathies to the different families. It really means a lot.
On Behalf of the Saney family.
Dear Rissa, thanks for
Dear Rissa, thanks for aggreeing with me on the issue of prevention. There is one scary point though in your Comment:
"Hell this is friggin Trinidad and we promote a culture of Alcohol so all who want to submit comments as if they have never been under the influence of alcohol or never been irresponsible at certain points in their lives...think again...what???"
Just because we promoting a culture of alcohol and we all have our sins in that respect(i won't exclude myself here) does not make it right or OK to act irresponsible. We all (should) know it is wrong and act accordingly. By people not doing that (or worse yet: let the others start, nah) we will not be able to bring this country back on track to what it was 13Years ago when i first got here.
Fact is a lot of my friends when coming back from Europe (like Football World Cup) they talk about how clean, disciplined, organized etc.... The Fact is: The people make it that way, not the government, not the police, it's everyone on the street by accepting the fact, that if you want to live in a certain quality standard of life, you will have to follow some rules (whether they are enforced or not; not like a one way is only a one way, when the police sees it, it ALWAYS is a one way).
Barryj kindly don't let the
Barryj kindly don't let the name fool you, because I may be just as or more accomplished than you and your friends and I have the most important thing that I don't think any of you have , common sense and an objective view on things.
To my fellow posters, I made
To my fellow posters,
I made a comment as an observer to an online news article. This report, as is the case with many other news 'reports', is one in which opinion and sensationalism (i.e. propaganda in its purest form) to sell the paper takes priority over the code of ethics associated with journalism. Yes, there are indeed codes of behaviour for all professions - medicine, engineering, public service, journalism, etc.
This type of dissemination of 'truth' has tendencies to have disruptive and sometimes catastrophic effects on society. The ignorance of the reader (or listener) is exploited by the concept that the holder of the information (the reporter and by extension, the media outlet) does indeed publish the said information in a truthful and correct manner - that is the pure use of FACT. When the information purported is strewn with inaccuracies, this is a violation of that trust - the responsibility of the journalist to the reader. In some spheres of more civilised societies, that act may be considered deceptive and may have legal ramifications.
When readers assume opinion for fact, it can lead to a mob-type mentality of superstition - often devoid of reason. The best example of this was illustrated through the Nazi 'woo-ing' of the German people through propaganda (see Hitler's Mein Kamf) and the resulting World War and Holocaust.
I appreciate that everyone has a right to their own thoughts and opinions. It is the beauty of a free world. The social responsibility that the media has for protecting the citizenry and equipping the public with true and correction information is a serious one that should not be taken lightly.
Until we live in an honest society, simply put, don't believe everything you read!
I am grateful that the Saney family (or a representative of) has put forward FACTS surrounding this incident. Loss of life is hard as is. People should be left to deal with grief in peace. This, I think, is a basic notion of decency and respect for your fellow man. Love...right?
I have already commented
I have already commented once on the disgrace to journalism and to the memory of my friends that this article represents. I just wanted to add that the Guardian seriously needs to review their policies about how their articles are written, especially in the event of someone's death. Need I remind you of the travesty of the 'Jiselle Salandy knocked out' headline? There is clearly a trend taking place and it is disgusting and appalling.
Ten years down the road if
Ten years down the road if someone asks about any of these guys and how they died, I have to wonder what would be your answer.
These guys were not just
These guys were not just 'someone', they were my FRIENDS who I knew all my life and they died in a horrible accident. Ten years down the road I will say they died in a horrible accident. Please just leave their memory in peace. You did not know them and cannot judge them. That is the bottom line. They were accomplished young men, making something of themselves but their lives were prematurely cut short in a tragic and terrible way. The way that they died has made this entire tragedy even more traumatizing for their loved ones and it would seem that people have become so desensitized to death that they are unable to have some respect and sympathy for the dead and the ones they have left behind. I don't see what you hope to achieve by slandering these young men and supporting an obviously biased and sensationalist article. I have always been disgusted by the way the press in Trinidad reports on such incidents but this time it has struck a personal cord with me.
So maybe you should stop
So maybe you should stop reading the Trinidad press if that is the way you feel and why are you so defensive about how your friens died, yes it was a tragedy how they died but that does not change the facts as to what might have caused the accident as reported not only in this paper but all the rest of newspapers and confirmed by the relatives and if I were you, ten years down the road, I would use this as a valuable lesson for maybe my children but then again you sound like the type who lives in denial. With all their accomplishments your friends still did not have the common sense to not drink and drive or to not burn the candles on both ends...so instead of accusing people and getting mad about trivial things (like the truth) maybe you should try banging your head against a wall, I have heard that when all else fails that works.
That's a great attitude- if
That's a great attitude- if you don't like it pretend it doesn't exist? The better, more logical thing would be to try to change it, hence my comments on this post. You are missing the point which is that the press in Trinidad has free license because of attitudes like yours and they abuse that freedom by publishing shamelessly sensationalist articles which exaggerate things in order to sell newspapers.
As for my friends, if people are trying to bias the accounts of their deaths and in that way make negative and false accusations about their lives, I must be defensive. I'm not sure why that is hard for you to grasp, but these were people close to me and people that I loved and so defending them when they are not here to defend themselves is only natural.
As for the rest of your comments, they don't warrant acknowledgement. Despite your ignorance and rudeness, I hope that if something were to happen to someone close to you (God forbid) you will never have to deal with the pain of people slandering their names on top of the grief of their loss.
Defending people, dead or
Defending people, dead or alive, doesn't change the facts or the wrongs that they did, I know that you are greiving but don't use that as an excuse to hit out at people who cannot understand why you have to defend your friends if they did nothing wrong, remember the truth always comes to light.
Grief will always plague
Grief will always plague humanity. It is the price we pay to love and be loved. These friends will be missed as family but always remembered as three kings.
lishmael, you should not get too upset about what some people may say on these types of forums. Ultimately people will only write/speak about what they perceive life to be - from press reporters to corner house reporters. Take 'obeahwoman' for example. The name alone has two interesting connotations, and by extension, perspectives, attached - a vindictive overtone and a belief in superstition (opinion) rather than truth (fact). You cannot expect that writer to put forward anything that goes outside of those boundaries. You may get hexed!
Barryj, getting hexed might
Barryj, getting hexed might be a spit in the bucket compared to dying after partying, drinking and driving, maybe somebody put a hex on these boys families since all of them saying the same thing...they never listened, partied to much and drove after hitting the bottle, somebody, maybe you, should get them checked out.
Why is it when someone dies
Why is it when someone dies they are always the good guy and everybody else bad, in Laventille the cry is that he wasn't into drugs or any gang ting and now this, two people thought that my comment about these guys going to the nightclub for prayers and thanksgiving was not right...well if they weren't drinking and having fun then they what else were they doing, don't blame the Guardian or the writer of the story she is just reporting what she was told by the family.
Rest with the Angels Chris
Rest with the Angels
Chris was the most genuine, loving person once can meet, he was extremely special with a heart of gold to friends and family, and he will be missed.
It was an unfortunate accident, an accident; keep personal views out of this.
My deepest sympathy goes out to the family of his 2 friends .
Coming to Trinidad will never be the same.
I will miss you.
Saw you guys wednesday
Saw you guys wednesday night....we all had fun that night.three very kool guys..can't believe your gone.we were just there together.my heart goes out to your family and friends.
I think it would be
I think it would be interestng to note that the express stated the similiar drving from night club they even went as far to get quote from the father stating that the boys live life 'too fast',.
That they "Three men who refused to listen to their parents' cries for them to "take life one day at a time" crashed and burned to death, while returning from a nightclub yesterday morning"
"I told him that he needs to slow down in life and that he was living at a fast pace," he said.
you can read the express's story at this link :
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161474715
Sorry for the loss of young bright men with so much promise.
I do not need to add too
I do not need to add too much as others have already commented on the lead sentence in this article that not just assumed but strongly suggested that this was a reckless 'drinking & driving' accident that led to my cousin and good friend's death.
My cousin, Johan Saney, was a rastaman in his heart. He did not eat meat, he barely used salt and his occasional drink of choice was a cold Guinness. Roots aka Nicholas was a mellow fella who used to take his drink, but who was probably more tired than anything, coming down the highway that time of night. He was also a responsible person who knew he was driving two friends; one, practically his younger brother, home.
Journalism is not about stating the facts, it's about shaping a story and finding the humanity in each one so that all viewers/listeners could connect to it. My family has not only lost our youngest male cousin, but his brother has lost both a sibling and a bestfriend. The Guardian has missed out on a great opportunity to tell a touching story of some great guys who have touched lots of lives.
"Who Jah bless, let no man curse"
Rest In Peace Chris and the
Rest In Peace Chris and the other two guys.
My condolences to Ryan and the families :(
Having known these gentlemen
Having known these gentlemen - one for over 10 years - it is indeed saddening to read the full gore and grit of their demise in this way. The facts may have been reported. The report may have been sensationalized. As a paper that I trust, it is sometimes imperative to recognize that we do not always need this level of detail and surely not suggestion or accusation by a reporter.
The fact is that they died returning from a club - an act that thousands do on a nightly basis Wednesday through Sunday. These gentlemen were accomplished for their ages as we can see, and the loss of such Life is tragic enough without having to have a finely threaded moral to the story added.
My sincere condolences to their families on their deaths and on this bit of over-indulgent press.
I can't for the life of me
I can't for the life of me understand why everyone is saying that the reporter did not report the facts, she did not say that they spent the night partying and drinking she said they were warned by their parents about the lives they were living and especially the drinking and driving part. She mentioned that they went to the popular night club other than that i saw nothing out of the ordinary i only saw the facts and to all of you who are going to reply or talk about my post, maybe you are hurting cus you knew one or all the boys but the reality of it is that is how life is and there are consequences to every action. We will never truly know what happened but don't blame the reporter cus the article was well written and no i do not know the reporter i just don't like ignorant comments. To the poster who said that they went to the club for a night of praise and thanksgiving c'mon on now do u see how silly that sounds.
my two cents!
Well written article you
Well written article you say? Can't agree 'two-cents'.
The first line - Subjective: "Three best friends who refused to heed their parents’ warning against drinking and driving were burnt to death." Did the writer make the young men drunk? The last line "Holding his head [...]", besides being added on after the concluding sentence of the article should be in the body of the report itself, if at all relevant. In this case, neither of these examples were relevant to the article in the sense that they skimmed the facts, allowing for the writer's thoughts to prevail, instead of relaying the facts themselves. This writer could learn from other press outlets; I'm sure even the Blast could have done a better job. If you have two lines of facts, don't try to expand beyond that scope by filling the rest with fluff. If you want to make a thorough article, talk to the police, or the family and get_more_facts. About the praise and thanksgiving, yeah, agree that's a bit out there, but that's straying into the comments and not the article itself.
ok maybe "well written" is
ok maybe "well written" is not the words i should use but no one knows what the family said to her with regards to the young mens' behaviours, so it could not have been that she made up the part about them drinking and driving
Please report the facts,
Please report the facts, these three friends were returning from a popular nightclub in Port of Spain after a night of prayers and thanksgiving when they got into an accident at 4.30am. Their parents, who had no idea of the real reason they went to nightclubs, thought to warn them against drinking and driving but had no idea of their real mission.
SHAME on you Guardian. SHAME
SHAME on you Guardian.
SHAME ON YOU yet again for choosing sensationalism over journalism.
Anika Gumbs-Sandiford, I certainly hope that this is not the finest product of your career.
Take a step back, and look at the lives of these young men; or at least stick to the facts.
Editor, please review the third paragraph of this article before sending to press. It is now 2:30am, please put a stop to this.
The prior commenter, Rakhib Mohammed, has taken the words right out of my mouth.
This article was unfortunately both incredibly insensitive but also disrespectful to three young men who became great friends and will sadly be missed by all who had the opportunity to meet them.
I agree with the above
I agree with the above posters.
Only the facts of the immediate incident need to be reported. It is NOT the "journalist" responsibility nor job to make assumptions on what may or may not have happened. That job is left up to the Medical Examiner and Police officials and other relevant authorities whose job it is.
By stating your view on the incident, you have/will be corrupting the view of others on it leading them to a biased opinion.
As a "journalist" you have an immense responsibility to ONLY report the facts about the current incident, an not to "slyly" throw in heresay from other individuals about prior settings under different circumstances. Which may also have been taken out of context.
Remember, you are a "reporter" not a storyteller or a gossiper.
This report is unfortunately
This report is unfortunately one of the most irresponsible pieces of journalism that I have come across for a very long time. Journalists are supposed to report the facts and not indulge in unnecessary sensationalism and hearsay. Three young men have tragically lost their lives as a result of a vehicular accident. That is as much as is known at the point of the report being filed with no one knowing with any degree of certainty what may have caused the accident as certainly the report contained no such evidence. In spite of this the reporter felt it necessary to create the impression that the accident occurred as a result of "drinking and driving". There is no denying that this is the cause of a lot of accidents and should be a serious concern of everyone but it does not give licence to make wild statements that may or may not be true in spite of what relatives or others may say. Not only has the reporter shown an absolute lack of professionalism but the editor has to be equally culpable in allowing such allegations in an insensitive article on a tragic and horrific accident with no hard evidence as to the underlying cause. We must and can do better.
As much as i have sympathy
As much as i have sympathy with the families of the victims, they obviously knew and wanted others to know (or they would not have mentioned, that they have been repeatedly talking to the kids. As a result of that I strongly disagree with Rakhib Mohammed: Far too often it is clear what caused the accident and I think it is time, that the public knows that people (often Innocent bystanders) are injured and killed because of drunk driving, speeding and other road unworthy driving practices.
Unless you have spoken with
Unless you have spoken with the families yourself Triniandi I find your assumption that this article reflected their opinions to be groundless. I personally knew these three guys and I can only imagine the grief their relatives are experiencing. It is only to be expected that in their grief they would express regrets about the loss of their loved ones.
However the point that you are missing is that the entire tone of this article is needlessly sensational and does not reflect the depth of this tragedy. There is no proof as to the cause of the accident and I find it appalling that my friends' deaths are being used by this journalist to sell newspapers under the guise of alerting the public to the dangers of so-called 'fast living'.
No matter how many times I read this article I cannot abide by the manner in which it was written because it is disrespectful to the memory of my friends. They were much more than the manner in which they died but the journalist ignored the other sentiments their families surely expressed such as how much they will be missed, how much they meant to us all and so on.
Please understand that every time an article is written about someone's death, while it may not have personal significance to you, somewhere their family and friends are grieving.
A little respect is definitely deserved.
Dear Lishmael, when your
Dear Lishmael, when your child, spouse or someone else close to you does something terribly wrong you will correct them and if in your authority, punish the person to avoid a repeat, am i right? It is a apparent consensus of all journalists in this country that reported on this accident, that the family thought they were living their life in the fast lane. It is most unfortunate and tragic that in this case the bad judgment of the three of them was so bad that it got killed, so there is no chance of correcting anything.
As to sensationalism and selling papers, here is something you should thing about: In a lot of other countries (Germany for example where i am from) it is pushed by the police itself, that road accidents caused by drunk driving (or even being tired after partying all night) or other illegal driving practices will be described graphic and with as much details to the reasons as they can supply. The reason for that is to shock others to prevent such accidents by putting the sheer fear into drivers for this, not to sell more papers. That is what this country needs: The public needs to know why people killing themselves (and innocent bystanders).
I'm sorry for your hurt and it is understandable that you try to defend your late friends. It does not take away from the fact: they should have left the car where it was and call a taxi to get home.
To Yohann and Rajiv, see you
To Yohann and Rajiv, see you on the other side. Rajiv is a man used to always hail me out, whey jed. Shivan
Raj and Saney... much
Raj and Saney... much love.
a tradgedy to all of us.
your friends and family will miss you.
peace and love