Guinea Grass Friends Perish in Traffic Accident

Edin Pop & Elodio Copo

A total of four persons died in separate traffic fatalities over the holiday weekend. Up north, two friends from the village of Guinea Grass were killed when their vehicle plunged into a creek and ended belly-up. It happened at about four-thirty on Monday morning when they were returning from Fire Burn. Family and friends are still struggling with the tragic reality. Dalila Ical reports.

Dalila Ical, Reporting

Today the families of Edin Pop and Elodio Copo prepare to lay them to rest. The men, who were by all accounts friends, perished when the white Ford pickup they were traveling in plunged into a shallow creek in Camp One at Shipyard.  Lizan Copo, sister to Elodio Copo, says they received news of the tragedy very early on Monday morning.

Lizan Copo, Sister of Deceased [Translated]

“It was about five thirty in the morning when we received the news and the call that he had died and we couldn’t believe it because it is something unbelievable that he had died and up to now it affects us because we cannot believe it. It’s like it was a dream.”

Police say they were called to the scene around four thirty that morning, when they found the vehicle inside the creek with its four wheels in the air.

Joseph Myvett

ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch

“What was reported to the police is that at the time the vehicle was being driven by one Edin Pop, thirty-years of a Guinea Grass Village address and at the time he was accompanied by Elidio Copo, thirty-five-years, also of Guinea Grass Village and they were heading to the area of Fire Burn when he apparently lost control of the vehicle which caused him to going to the creek.”

The circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident are still unclear. Copo says her brother had left since Sunday evening.

Lizan Copo [Translated]

“He went out on Sunday evening. He came from the farm and took a bath. He then left to go look for his bicycle at my other sister’s house and then from there he left and we did not see him again. And all night, I don’t know if he was drunk or what happened there but we just received the call.”

By the time they arrived on the scene, first responders had taken both men out of the wrecked vehicle. Edin Pop’s family was unavailable for comment, but we are told that he too had left his house on Sunday evening. He had gone to buy food. Villagers told the family they saw him buying and eating at a local establishment. It is suspected the men may have met after that.

Lizan Copo [Translated]

“They say that the driver took some men to Fire Burn and upon coming back that happened to them and from there I don’t know more, I cannot say more. That is all I heard. I don’t know what he was doing at that time of the morning. I don’t understand either. We don’t understand, the family, we cannot understand why he was all the way there when he has somewhere he could be safe.”

Dalila Ical

“When he left here he wasn’t drinking?”

Lizan Copo

“No, no, he was not drinking. He left well, he was well when he left.”

When police arrived on the scene both men were unresponsive. They were rushed to the Northern Regional hospital where they were pronounced dead.

ACP Joseph Myvett

“At this point in time we also do not know whether or not alcohol was a factor and the same principle or the same procedures will apply that samples will be taken at the post mortem.”

Pop’s Ford pickup was pulled out of the creek and kept at his employer’s house in Shipyard. Copo says they keep fond memories of her brother.

Lizan Copo [Translated]

“Well, he was a calm person, he was my brother. He was quiet. He wasn’t a troublemaker. He didn’t go fighting on the streets either. If he drank, he would come home and go to sleep. We will miss him a lot.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Dalila Ical.