This story reminds me alot about the woman from Laventille who lost her 5 children to drowning some years ago. What was more hurtful about that story was the sight of the lifeless bodies just laying there on the shore....and the screams of the mother.
That visual still haunting me to this day.
Father of Trinis killed in US suffers heart attack
Kimberly Castillo and Peter Christopher
Trinidad Express
Saturday, July 28th 2007
Kenny Gopaul suffered a heart attack and collapsed at his South Trinidad home after learning that his children were killed in a road accident in the United States.
And the family of five of the six Trinidadians killed in the fiery accident in Virginia may have to wait as long as three weeks before they can bury their relatives.
Gopaul, 62, a mechanic who lives at Princes Town, was flanked by other relatives at his Ward 12 bed at the San Fernando General Hospital.
All he would say was: "I am not in a state of mind to give a comment."
Cousin of the five Gopaul siblings killed in the accident, Yasmin Mohammed-Mills, said the family members were told by authorities that the bodies would not be handed over until investigations were completed.
A distraught Mills said their family had been suffering and struggling to cope since they learnt of the accident that claimed the lives of their relatives.
Siblings Petrina 25, Anthony, 21, Rawlins, 16, Anderson, 13, and Jessica Gopaul, 11, of Bronx, New York, along with a family friend (not yet identified) were driving along Route 58 on Tuesday afternoon when their Honda Accord flipped a median and collided with a truck.
Eyewitnesses were able to pull Anderson Gopaul out of the wreckage before it burst into flames.
He died later.
Reports say police used a piece of identification found at the scene to contact relatives in New York.
"Our family is traumatised and it's only getting worse for us," said Mills.
Mills who lives in Pennsylvania said family had been pouring in from Trinidad to lend support since they learnt of the accident on Wednesday night.
Mills said the mother of the siblings, Pamela Ramharrack, has been in a state of shock.
"While packing her clothes to make the trip to Virginia, she was crying uncontrollably. Since the accident she has been busy organising the children's medical and dental records. Now for the authorities to tell her she has to wait as much as three weeks before she can bury her children, it's too much for her to bear," said an emotional Mills.
Mills said it was not unusual for the siblings to go out on long drives and stay at motels during the summer holidays.
She said the siblings were returning from a trip to North Carolina.
She said Anderson and his younger sister Jessica both had dentist appointments today.
Mills said the family was trying to come to terms with the tragedy.
"They were beautiful kids, polite, well-spoken and perfect angels," recalled a tearful Mills.
Ramharrack, a mother of six, has one surviving daughter, Salena Gopaul, 23.
The eldest sibling, Petrina Gopaul, leaves behind a husband and a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
Her brother Anthony would have turned 22 on Tuesday and Jessica would have turned 12 on August 19.
