Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
A night out for a group of friends ended tragically on Sunday, after two of them fell to their deaths when the pick-up they were travelling in ran off the highway and plunged into the Cipero River in San Fernando.
The Hunters’ Search and Rescue (HSR) team discovered the bodies of businessman Sachin Teeluckdharry, of Clarke Road, Penal, and Ryan Ramnanan, of Tulsa Trace, San Francique, at 2.38 pm. Both men were already dead.
Scores of relatives, friends and onlookers crowded the bridge along the Solomon Hochoy Highway, which passes over the river, moments after the discovery.
Emergency vehicles parked on the road created traffic congestion for hours as Mon Repos firefighters worked to retrieve the bodies from the badly mangled pick-up, even as the rains came.
Reports indicated that Teeluckdharry and Ramnanan were among a group of friends who were earlier hanging out along Cipriani Boulevard, Port-of-Spain, on Saturday night.
A friend told police he last saw the men when he overtook Teeluckdharry’s Nissan Navara near the Gasparillo Interchange at 3.30 am.
HSR team captain Vallence Rambharat told Guardian Media that his team received the distress call from Teeluckdharry’s family at 9.38 am, asking for assistance after the men did not return to their homes and calls to their phones were unanswered. The families also reported them missing to police.
The HSR team gathered around noon and began searching the highway from Gasparillo, intending to reach Penal.
The team eventually reached Ste Madeleine, where they observed a vehicle overturned in the river, between the north and southbound lanes. They climbed down and started to call but got no response. It was then they approached and found the lifeless bodies inside the crushed cabin.
Mon Repos firefighters cut the pick-up to get the men out, while a crane truck lifted the vehicle from the river.
Investigators said they believe the pick-up veered off the road, became airborne, and crashed into the bridge wall.
Relatives who were at the scene declined to comment to the media.
