Goa, the once peaceful paradise, is emerging into an increasingly dangerous wilderness, with no knowing when and how death will knock on life's door.

At the end of September 1999, Goa had 2,97,964 vehicles of various types running up, down and around Goa's winding, sometimes very narrow road network of 4,461 kilometres. Hence about four months there were 2,11,856 two-wheelers, 45,523 cars and jeeps, 20,511 goods carriers, 5,877 taxis, 2,534 buses, 406 KTC buses alone, 433 tractors, 2,897 autoricks and 3,176 government vehicles.

With a minimum of 2000 new vehicles being added to the burgeoning vehicle population every monthly (with the tourists season adding its own liberal bit...come December), there must be at least 3,25,000 vehicles on Goa's roads today. What about hundreds of vehicles brought in by the endless flow of visitors from all over the country?

Like the variety of vehicles on our roads, we have a variety of drivers too. Besides those possessing light and heavy driving licences, we have hundreds of unlicensed, rough, careless and plain illiterate drivers.

Hence, like the continuously flowing water under the Mandovi bridge, Goa's population, traffic and accidents also keep swelling almost alarmingly. Going down memory lane, we will remember that the erstwhile Union Territory had merely 5000 vehicles about thirty years ago. With a sharp increase in virtually everything, why won't there be more than one accident per day on Goa's treacherous roads, besides increasing pollution?

Going back to the statistics of accidents, four months ago, there were 1,842 road accidents with 141 of them proving fatal. Road accidents obviously are emerging into a major killer in our small State. We picked up just a few fatal incidents, which occurred till the third week of January 2000.

Most recent road accidents:

MUM, DAUGHTER DEAD: 25-year-old Christalina Saldanha Godinho of Mapusa and her mother Maria Elsa (55) of Porvorim were killed in a fatal accident when an inter-state bus collided with a Fiat car driven by Christalina, near the Guirim cross at 10.30 am on Friday 13. In broad daylight, it was a tragic end for newly married Christalina, whose body was crushed inside the vehicle due to the terrific impact of the crash. She had married Ivon on 27^th December 99 and both were to proceed to the USA soon. Her husband, Ivon, who was in the rear seat was the only survivor. However, his condition was serious at the time of writing the report.

On the same day, Bala and Rajendra Parab of Virnoda in Pernem, met with an accident at 12.45 pm near Hotel Green Park at Guirim. The Maruti van, in which they were travelling, was hit by a pickup. Bala Parab succumbed to the injuries at the GMC while the condition of Rajendra is still serious.

In between the timing of the above two accidents, a diesel tanker collided with a mini truck on the Mandovi bridge, at 11.30 am. Eurico Cordeiro of Guirim, who was trailing a vehicle on his scooter was seriously injured since he could not avert colliding with the vehicle in front of him. And we have just finished celebrating the Traffic Safety week.

Death comes suddenly like a thief as it happened to Vasco's SARA MACHADO, wife of former speaker Froilano Machado on January 19. Sara (63) had just parked her Maruti Esteem car at Verna and was crossing the road to go to the other side, when she was hit by a Maruti car. She succumbed to the injuries at the GMC.

ROAD DEATH: Manuel Thereza (52) was killed in a road mishap at Dicarpale on Tuesday when he was knocked down by a speeding truck.

CRUSHED TO DEATH: Joaquim Rodrigues (30) was knocked down and killed by a speeding truck at Sancoale, when he was cycling towards Cortalim. Prashant Bogle, the driver, who was trying to flee from the scene, was caught by the public and handed over to the police.

BRITISHER DEAD: Scon Pritardo, a British national, who was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident at Baga on January 4, succumbed to injuries at the GMC on Jan 12.

Other accidents:

CHILD KILLED BY ANTS: Of the 62 orphans at the Bal Niketan at Chimbel, an eight-month-old orphan girl Swizal (Ravi) died, reportedly bitten by ants (just can't believe it!), on January 8 afternoon. Everyone is certain that the kid died due to the negligence of someone or other at the institution.

Swizal, along with another two kids were kept aside, while the 'aaya' was changing the linen from the cradle. The aaya's attention was drawn when the child started screaming. Swizal was promptly shifted to the GMC but could not be saved.

The post mortem report of the eight-month-old child states that the "death occurred due to shock as a result of multiple insect bites with aspiration of regurgitated stomach content into the main air passages". Pending further inquiry, the 'aaya', on duty on the fateful day, has been suspended. Subsequently, the Old Goa police registered a case against the 'aaya' and other staff members of the Bal Niketan in Merces, for negligence resulting in Swizal's death.

CHILD CHARRED: Another fatal incident occurred in Calangute on the eve of the Id festival. A three-year-old boy, Saddam Hussein Nadaf, who was fast asleep, was charred to death at Savantvaddo in Calangute on Sunday night. The hut, in which his family lived went up in flames while his father had gone to the mosque to offer namaz. His mother was preparing sweets for the Id festival, and she had gone out at the moment to answer nature's call when the hut caught fire.

STUDENTS SAVED: While a contractor was carrying out blasting operations on the adjacent hillock, a hail of stones rained on the roof of the Government Primary School at Talpona. Fortunately, the students were not there at that time. With the impact of the blast, the roof of the building has been damaged and the walls cracked.

FIRE IN MAPUSA: Goods worth around Rs.45 lakh were destroyed when a fire gutted the storage rooms of Goa Fair Enterprises and Irani Sales Enterprises, in a residential building near the Bank of Goa on Sunday afternoon.

Death also visited Goa in other forms this month…like some one killing himself or herself in desperation or being murdered by some one else. Check for such news in the CRIME section.