UPDATED: Seven killed in accident at Burma, Mahaicony

Last Updated on Friday, 20 February 2015, 20:40 by GxMedia

A teacher and six students of a school at Mahaicony on Friday were believed dead after the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into a canal at Burma main road, police said.

Investigators were told that about 3:30 PM, the bodies of a school teacher and six students of the Husburg Primary School, Mahaicony, were found in a motor vehicle that had turned turtle in the canal along the Burma Road, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.

It is suspected that the teacher, Shondell Duke, had lost control of the vehicle as they were returning home from a school Mash event. The children who lost their lives in the incident are Martina Persaud, 7 years; Asia Abel, 10 years; Azikia Fraser, 6 years; Adeshe Woolford, 9 years; Justin Abel, 8 years; and Rayden Abel, 7 years, all of Mahaicony.

They were pronounced  dead on arrival at the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital.

Investigations are in progress.

Nearby residents of the rice-growing community tried desperately to rescue the occupants.