Saudi Trailer Crash: Second Victim Identified as John D'Souza
by Richie Lasrado
Mangalore, Nov 3: It is over two weeks since the news of the tragic pile-up of three trailers and a car in Hofuf in Saudi Arabia was received here.
If the story of Stanley Prabhakar Suchita was heart-rending, the news of Imamu John D'Souza, who too died while driving another trailer that was following the one Stanley was driving, is equally poignant.
Imamu John (46), son of Seraphine and the late Severine D'Souza, originally of Badiadka-Narampady of Kasaragod district, lived in the Pierce Leslie Colony, Morgan's Gate in Jeppu here in the city. He hailed from a family of five brothers and five sisters. His mother Seraphine still lives in Badiadka.
Imamu John, popularly known as "Babu" amongst family and friends' circles, initially worked in Saudi Arabia, but in 2003 had moved to Dubai, UAE. He was self-employed and was running the transport trailer supplying goods to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq.
He had married Veronica from Sullia. They had a daughter, Jiya Vinona, after eight years and she will be completing three years on November 19, 2006. Imamu John had booked his ticket to travel to Mangalore on November 15, to be in time to celebrate the daughter's birthday. He bought a house in PL Colony a few years ago and had it renovated over the past year. The house-warming of the extended house and the daughter's birthday were to be celebrated together on November 19. But fate willed otherwise.
On the dark night of October 17, Imamu John and Stanley Suchita, both intimate friends and associates, driving separate vehicles, died in the pile-up for no fault of theirs. Another vehicle with a tyre-burst speeding from the opposite direction swerved and hit John's trailer. The diesel tank is said to have been smashed in the impact and the heat of the engine immediately caused a fire.
Because of Ramadan as also both of them being residents of the UAE having died in transit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, more legal technicalities and paperwork were involved.
Philip J Pereira, popularly known as 'Jemma', hailing from Pandeshwar here and a resident of the UAE, is closely related to the family. Currently on holidays here, having arrived by the first international flight from Dubai on October 3, he is standing by them in this hour of crisis.
Incidentally, says Philip, both Stanley and John had been great friends. They both had helped about 25 friends and acquaintances from Mangalore to get jobs in the UAE. They had even fed some of them and looked after them until they got good jobs in the Gulf, he adds.
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