Soca artiste critical after 5-car crash
Posted: Sunday, December 12, 2004
By Tracy Kim Assing, www.guardian.co.tt
Soca artiste Onika Bostic was up to last night in critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit of Port-of-Spain, after a horrific car accident left her with multiple fractures to her head and serious injures to her spine.
Hospital officials refused to give details about Bostic’s condition, saying only that doctors were giving her the best possible care.
Family members and close friends had the company of members of the calypso/soca fraternity at the hospital yesterday, as they kept vigil for hours, hoping for some positive news about the vivacious brown-eyed beauty.
The accident, in which five cars were involved, occurred at around 3.15 am at the corner of Erica Street and Eastern Main Road, Laventille.
The car, in which Bostic was a passenger, was driven by Reynold "Ninja" Joseph, a member of the Godfather’s Asylum and cousin of reigning Soca Monarch Bunji Garlin.
An eyewitness told Sunday Guardian that Joseph’s car, which was heading west along the EMR, skidded in a pool of water on the roadway and flipped three times before slamming into another car, heading east.
A third car, which was also heading west, also skidded in the pool of water and crashed into the front passenger side of Joseph’s car.
A driver who stopped to assist ended up being part of the melee, when his car was hit by another car, with both cars joining the three cars which had already smashed into each other.
The eyewitness said the whole accident unfolded like a "stage scene."
Besson Street police reported that both artistes were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident.
Bostic, 24, who has been riding high on the success of her first release for Carnival 2005, "All is Yours," was scheduled to perform at four venues between Friday night and Saturday morning.
She had already performed at gigs in south Trinidad and Tunapuna’s Pure Energy Club, and was on her way to another performance at Long Circular before heading for The Base in Chaguaramas.
Joseph would occasionally chauffeur Bostic to performances, as the young songbird never really felt comfortable behind the wheel after she was previously involved in a minor car accident.
Both Bostic and Joseph were taken to St Clair Medical Centre, where he was treated and discharged, while Bostic was transferred to Port-of-Spain General Hospital because of the severity of her injuries.
Joseph remained in a state of shock yesterday.
Several artistes including Bunji, Sherwin Winchester, Maximus Dan, Iwer George, Faye Ann Lyons, Gailann, Rocky, Candy Hoyte, Precious and Patrick "Vybe" Gordon, DJs Kwesi "Hoppi" Hopkinson and Robert Lynch, producers Ken Holder and Darryl Braxton and Anthony Chow Lin On joined Bostic’s family at the hospital, where they waited outside of the Intensive Care Unit, as she underwent emergency surgery.
Many of them stayed on as doctors attempted to stabilise her condition.
Bostic, who spent years performing as a back-up singer for artistes like Machel Montano, first came to radio’s attention with the song "Fascinated," a collaboration with Gailann on the Ken Holder produced Pigtail Rhythm.
She has also performed with Antiguan band Burning Flames.
In the last three years, Bostic continued to find favour with DJs, putting out tracks like "Mash It Up," "Get On Bad" and "Put Dem Up."
The fun-loving singer played mas with the Peter Elias- designed "Jungle Fever" section of the band Poison last year and would often be seen backstage at concerts, even when she was not billed to appear, lending support to her soca comrades.
Apart from her runaway hit "All is yours," Bostic had completed two tracks for Carnival 2005, one produced by Anastus "Nas T" Hackett and another, a collaboration with Blazer, produced by Richard "Char Su" Ahong.
She had also started work on a song for pan with Beaver Henderson, Len "Boogsie" Sharpe and Anthony Alexis.
Bunji, who spent hours at the hospital and with Joseph, told Sunday Guardian, "The Father must do his thing. We feel obliged to offer words of prayer and hope because she was a good person and in a sense, she really find herself as an artiste this year.
"She has been able to feed her family this year and things have been going well for her.
"Now all we can do is pray."
Reports are that two hours after Bostic’s accident, two other cars also crashed at the same spot, with one of the cars crashing into the Erica Street sign and into a nearby wall.
©2003-2004 Trinidad Publishing Company Limited
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