Eighty-three deaths have been recorded on our roads since the start of this year on 19 July. At the same time in 2022, the number of fatalities was fifty-five. The latest victim is Kevin Gree Dhun, aged 24 and living in Château Bénarès, Rivière des Anguilles. He was killed in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 19 July, when his car, in which he was a passenger in the back seat, was hit from behind by a 4×4. The driver was drunk. On the morning of Tuesday 18 July, 17-year-old Jean Danielito Rafael succumbed to his injuries at the Dr Bruno Cheong hospital in Flacq. The Mont Ida resident was found on the village’s Route Royale with his motorbike beside him on the evening of 13 July. He was bleeding from his head, nose and ears. Dr Prem Chamane, Principal Police Medical Officer, who performed an autopsy on his body, attributed the cause of death to craniocerebral lesions.
At around 1.32am on Wednesday 19 July, an accident occurred on the Savanne road in Saint Aubin. A purple 4×4 and a grey Toyota were involved. The car was driven by a 25-year-old man, a car washer by trade who lives in Mare Tabac. Four occupants were in the vehicle. One of them, a resident of Grand Bois, was next to him in the front seat, while the three others in the back seat were a 24-year-old resident of Mare Tabac, a resident of Château Bénarès and the victim, Kevin Gree Dhun, aged 24 from the same village.
Both vehicles were seriously damaged. The men from the Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service had to intervene to get the injured out of the car. They were all in pain. An ambulance from the Service d’Aide Médicale d’Urgence (Samu) was sent to the scene, but unfortunately the doctor on board could only certify the death of Kevin Gree Dhun. The other occupants were treated before being taken to Souillac hospital. The driver of the car and the three other occupants were subsequently transferred to the Jawaharlall Nehru hospital in Rose-Belle.
A breathalyser test was carried out on the driver of the car, which came back negative. Before the police arrived, the driver of the 4×4, a 27-year-old man who lives in Cité Saint Aubin, Rivière des Anguilles, had fled the scene. He was arrested shortly afterwards and was also tested. The test was positive.
At the time of the accident, both vehicles were travelling towards Rivière des Anguilles. A fifteen-seater rental van had stopped in front of the 4×4, which then collided head-on with the rear of the Toyota Corolla.
An autopsy was carried out on the body of Kevin Gree Dhun on the morning of Wednesday 19 July. Carried out at the Victoria Hospital mortuary, Candos, by Dr Sudesh Kumar Gungadin, head of the police forensic department, it attributed his death to a laceration of the thoracic aorta.
Kevin Gree Dhun’s funeral took place at 3pm on Wednesday 19 July. His cremation took place in Benares.
A police investigation has been launched to shed light on the exact circumstances of these two accidents.
