PANJIM: Within a month after the horrific Banastarim accident, three persons lost their lives, while two others were injured when the driver of the compact SUV in which they were travelling, lost control and rammed the vehicle into a roadside tree near the TVS Showroom at Porvorim in the wee hours of Sunday.
According to police, at the time of the accident, five persons were travelling in an electric SUV.
The police said that the accident occurred at around 1.30 am as the driver of vehicle lost control and rammed it into a roadside tree. The impact was so intense that Abigail D’Souza (21), a resident from Merces, Valdrofe D’Souza (30) from Badem-Assagao and Shawn Fernandes (27) from Parra died on the spot. Injured Ninoshka Fernandes (21) and Fiona D’Souza (25) from Merces have been admitted in the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Bambolim. The vehicle was badly damaged in the accident.
One of those injured gave her statement to police.
In her statement she said Fiona and Abigail, who are from Merces, had gone to attend a birthday celebration somewhere in Quepem. They got delayed and reached late. Valdrofe and Ninoshka had planned to pick up both Fiona and Abigail as they wanted to celebrate Raksha Bandhan together. They drove from Anjuna to Merces at around 11.30 pm, on Saturday. They picked up Fiona and Abigail and were on their way back home. On reaching Teen Building bus stop, Shawn, who was driving the car, lost control over the vehicle and rammed it into a roadside tree. The impact was so intense that Valdrofe was thrown out of the SUV and died on the spot, police said.
A pall of gloom descends on villages of victims
Porvorim accident scars families
PANJIM: When death comes knocking, no one can even guess in what form it can come, and how many lives it can snatch at a time. If it is an untimely death involving budding youth, it is all the more a severe blow for the family with a scar left which can never be healed.
This is precisely what happened to the five youth, who met with an accident at Porvorim on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. While three lost their lives, two are yet to recover.
The deceased Valdrofe D’Souza’s wife Patricia has two sisters and the elder sister, who lives abroad, rushed to Goa on receiving the tragic news of her brother 26-year-old Shawn’s death. In two months, Valdrofe was to turn 31. Ironically, just a year ago, Patricia lost her uncle.
Sources in the family informed that all five car occupants were relatives and would always be together at happening places.
On Saturday, Valdrofe quit his job and was supposed to join another company. So they all decided to have a weekend party at Valdrofe’s residence at Badem-Assagao.
Midway, Valdrofe felt that others, who had been left out of this party, be invited. They left for Merces to pick up Abigail, little realising that they would not return for dinner at all.
“At 3 am, I was woken up by Valdrofe’s friends, who said, ‘uncle, we have to go to the hospital’. I was shocked, not knowing what to do and what had happened as nobody would tell me. On the way, I called up my elder son Valerian, who informed me about the tragic accident and I became numb,” said a grieving Natividade D’Souza, father of Valerian, Valdrofe and Valentino (presently on the ship).
For Natividade, recent years have been quite cruel. He lost his wife Maria Lina D’Souza to Covid-19 in April 2021, but Valdrofe miraculously recovered from the dreaded disease.
Known to be jovial and bubbling with energy, Valdrofe was the most sought after person in Badem among his friends. When many of his friends moved abroad for better prospects, he continued with jovial nature and made several friends.
In January this year, Valdrofe and Patricia Fernandes from Parra, tied the knot, little realising that after eight months they would be separated forever.
For Natividade, the death of his son has come as a massive shock, but for Shawn’s family, it is even a bigger blow. Valdrofe’s brother-in-law Shawn was the only son, who was set to take over his father’s business empire. Just as a pall of gloom descended on Badem, it was a great blow to the Fernandes family at Parra.
A sobbing Natividade said, “For any parent the worst thing is to see the death of their children. I always prayed to the Almighty that during my lifetime nothing should happen to my children, but it was not to be. I am suffering from a heart ailment and now in the evening of my life, why did God not take me and spare my son?”
He said, “Having come up from scratch, after moving abroad, I ensured that my sons deserved the best and lead a good life, but life played a cruel joke on me, as at first I lost my wife and now my son.”
Neighbours remember Valdrofe as a cheerful youth, always out to lend a helping hand to those in need.
Valdrofe’s neighbour Sebastian D’Souza said, “We are shocked and cannot imagine that Valdrofe is no more. A youth like Valdrofe is very rare to find and will always be missed by all the villagers from Badem.”
According to Natividade, the last rites would be announced later when Valdrofe’s young brother establishes contact with the family and arrives in the State.
Shawn’s funeral will take place at St Anne’s Church, Parra on Tuesday, September 5, at 10 am, informed family sources.