PORVORIM
In yet another horrific car crash, three young people were killed and two others critically injured when the Tata Nexon electric car they were travelling in rammed into a roadside tree at Porvorim in the post-midnight hours on Sunday.
All five were occupants of the car which crashed apparently after the driver lost control of the vehicle at high speed.
Porvorim police said, Abigail D’Souza (21) and Veldrofe D’Souza (26) both from Anjuna and Shawn Fernandes (26) from Parra, who was on the wheel, died at the accident spot itself and were declared 'brought dead' by doctors at the Goa Medical College and Hospital's casualty department.
Two other female occupants of the car -- Fiona D’Souza (22) from Vaddy-Merces and Ninoshka Fernandes (24) from Anjuna are in critical condition and undergoing treatment at the GMC.
All five were returning home after attending a family function at Merces when the accident occurred, police said. The three who died -- Shawn, Veldrofe and Abigail -- are from the same family.
The accident was first noticed at around 1.30 am (Sunday) by personnel in a police control room (PCR) van doing the rounds in the area who intimated their counterparts at the Porvorim police station for support.
Preliminary investigations indicate that Shawn, who was driving the car at a high speed, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the roadside tree on the right. The impact was so huge that two of the occupants got flung out of the vehicle, police said.
Fiona has sustained head injuries and is critical while the shoulder of Ninoshka is fractured, police said, adding that the autopsy examination on the three dead victims is yet to be conducted.
Goa has seen an upsurge in road accidents and deaths in recent days, including incidents where drivers have been in an inebriated state.
Superintendent of Police (traffic) Akshat Kaushal, IPS, said that they have upped their policing against drunken driving and are conducting intensive drives on a daily basis.
So far this year, 980 challans have been booked against persons driving under the influence of alcohol above the permissible limit, higher than the 785 in the same period last year, Kaushal said.
