HGP Nightly News – A trip to collect a child from school ended in heartbreak on Wednesday after a father and his four-year-old son died when their car plunged into a canal at Black Bush Polder, Corentyne.
Dead are 32-year-old Joseph Mangar and his young son, Johnathan Mangar, both of Limlair Village, Corentyne.
The two were reportedly on their way to pick up Mangar’s daughter from school when the vehicle they were travelling in ended up in a canal along the Lesbeholden Public Road.
Police said preliminary investigations indicate that motorcar PYY 2317, owned by Mangar, was heading south along the road, allegedly at a fast rate, when he lost control. The vehicle then toppled into a canal on the western side of the public road and went underwater.
The father and son are believed to have drowned.
The tragedy has left the Limlair community in shock and has devastated the family. Mangar’s wife, Dellissa Trotman, was too distraught to speak.
A relative of the child said the family first received a call around 14:11h from Mangar’s mother, who reported that a vehicle resembling the white car he drove was seen in a trench.
Relatives say Mangar was first discovered and removed from the vehicle and the canal. However, persons at the scene were initially unaware that little Johnathan was also inside the car.
By the time the child was found, it was too late.
Young Johnathan was a Prep 1 pupil of Nurney Nursery School, Corentyne. His father worked as a truck driver.
Public-spirited citizens later removed the father and son from the submerged vehicle. They were taken to the Port Mourant Public Hospital, where they were pronounced dead on arrival.
Their bodies were later taken to a funeral parlour, where post-mortem examinations are expected to be conducted.
The accident has added fresh grief to the community, where relatives are now left trying to understand how an ordinary school pick-up turned into a double tragedy.
