JENSEN LA VENDE
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Relatives of 32-year-old Natalia Noel, who died after the vehicle she was in went over a precipice along the North Coast Road, is blaming the fire service for her death.
Speaking with the media at their Duncan Trace Extension, Santa Cruz Old Road, San Juan home, relatives, who did not want to be identified, said the fire service was too slow in their response leading to her death.
Police reported that the 32-year-old was in a caravan along the North Coast Road around 12.45 pm, when a tree fell, forcing the 73-year-old driver to veer off the road. The vehicle, after going over the cliff, slammed into a tree some 60 feet off the road. The two were taken to hospital where Noel was pronounced dead at 3.20 pm of a cardiac arrest.
Relatives said fire officers did not use a tourniquet to prevent blood loss and were slow in taking her out from the down the precipice. They said the fire officers took some two hours to take her out with Noel going to hospital around 2.35 pm.
“They take so long. She was not trapped, she was down on the ground. She was outside on the ground. They have no right to take more than an hour to take out my sister from in the bush. They just had her there in the bush, long, long, long, long. The system what Trinidad and Tobago have here, they on s**t with that system,” one relative said.
The relative questioned how the driver was able to make it up the precipice, but the fire officers couldn’t move swiftly to get her up the cliff.
“My sister would not be alive here if the fire officers and them, they do what they were supposed to do and they do it on time. They killed my sister. Them fire officers killed my sister because they took to damn long.”
In a WhatsApp response acting Chief Fire Officer Andy Hutchinson said the fire service was left without needed equipment for years and the officers did the best they could with what they had.
“Our officers work in less-than-ideal work environments at most stations. We have been deprived training, equipment, vehicles, PPE and the list goes on. What I can say of my officers is that each and every time a distress call is received, we have found a way to respond and work to the best of our ability with what is afforded to us. For this I will commend each officer for maintaining that steady focus on serving the citizens of this beautiful twin island state while selflessly placing themselves at risk.”
Hutchinson also expressed his condolences to Noel’s relatives.
One of Noel’s neighbours Neil Roberts said the mother of two always had smile on her face and her death shocked the community.
“She was very humble, always smiling. A very lovely woman. She was to she self, but she still loved everybody.”
Roberts added that Noel’s warmth is what he would miss most about her as her smile would give anyone energy to face the day.
