Daughter of woman killed in fatal bus accident:

Senior Reporter

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The daughter of 39-year-old SWAT security officer Roxanne Philip says that after hearing her mother was in an accident, she thought that just like the last time she was in a mishap, her mother was going to make it.

Kareema Glasgow was speaking with the media at the funeral service for her mother at the Jama Masjid on Queen Janelle Commissiong Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

Philip, along with Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) bus driver Munsaf Khan, 48, died when the bus they were travelling in crashed along the Solomon Hochoy Highway on Tuesday morning.

Police reported that the driver of a truck pulled out from the shoulder of the highway into the path of the bus being driven by Khan. Khan tried to avoid hitting the truck; however, both vehicles collided. Philip was thrown from the bus upon impact, and Khan was pinned inside the bus. Both died at the scene.

Khan was buried on Thursday.

Glasgow, the oldest of Philip’s three children, said her mother was a hard worker, and the two bonded over her love for cooking. She said she found out about her mother’s death from her stepfather.

“Her husband called me, and he was like, ‘Your mother got in an accident. Well, they say your mother got in an accident.’ And, well, she got in an accident before, so I wasn’t really expecting her to die, but he called back and he was like, she gone!”

The 20-year-old said she and her siblings now must hold on to God and each other for strength.

“I don’t have anything to do but to hold the faith. Hold the faith and just say your prayers; ask God to guide me and protect me. Now that we only have each other, we have to hold strong.”

Also speaking with the media was PTSC General Manager Patrick Gomez, who said an internal investigation was ongoing.

“We have initiated an internal investigation on the 20th of August that will look at our systems and all the systems associated with our operations and whether there are any changes needed. Of course, we will liaise with the TTPS accordingly for the final determination of the road traffic accident.”

He added that one of the things being considered following the crash was the implementation of dashcams.

“That is surely something that will be on the table, and the investigation will point to a lot of systemic things that we will look at improving going forward from here.”

Gomez said PTSC had been in contact with the South West Regional Health Authority to identify the other passengers and their injuries for possible follow-up action. He added that counselling was available to the passengers and relatives of both deceased.

Meanwhile, the chief executive officer for SWAT, Aaron Henry, said the company would assess how it could assist Philip’s family.

“The HR department and our welfare department are looking into that right now. So they’ve been making contact with the family. Since the incident, today is just to, you know, do what we have to do here to get this situation dealt with, put the rest, and then what has to be done, the HR department, the organisation, they will deal with that.”

Henry said Philip was loved by her co-workers, who gave her a guard of honour. Her colleagues packed themselves under two tents in the carpark of the mosque. One of her colleagues, seen wearing a neck brace, was on the bus when it crashed.

Asked to describe his worker, Henry said, “She has been a very, she’s very active in the company. She’s very boisterous. You know, she doesn’t take nonsense, and she was, you know, she was part of the family. She was there for the company. She was there for her colleagues.”