A TAXI-DRIVER believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel along the Uriah Butler Highway in Chaguanas yesterday morning, lost control of his vehicle and crashed into two other cars, killing himself and two other motorists.

The three people killed were taxi-driver Errol Francis, 66, Basdaye Poochoon, 51, and Sherwin Thomas, 29. The accident occurred shortly after 5 a.m. just after the Endeavour Flyover and caused a massive traffic jam as far south as Gasparillo.

The brother of one of the victims was heading north to Port of Spain in a bus and was complaining about the traffic when he received a phone call from his sister telling him his youngest brother was killed in the accident.

Francis lived at June Street, Couva; Thomas at Main Road, Chaguanas, while Poochoon lived at Sancho Trace, Calcutta.

Three passengers in Francis's car, Akil Durham, David Patterson and a yet to be identified woman remained in stable condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope up to press time last night.

According to the police, Francis and his passengers were heading south along the highway in his white Nissan B-15 around 5.15 a.m. One of the passengers later told police he noticed that Francis appeared to be falling asleep at the wheel.

Relatives told police he was hypoglycemic, meaning his blood-sugar count may have dropped, causing him to lapse into unconsciousness.

One of the passengers also told police that by the time Francis awoke he had already crossed the grassy median which divides the lanes.

Francis first slammed into a blue Nissan B-14 driven by Poochoon. His car tore into the right side of Poochoon's car, ripping off the front and the back doors and killing the woman instantly.

Francis's car then slammed into a Suzuki Jimny driven by Thomas. He too died on the spot.

Fire officers from the nearby Chaguanas Fire Station told the Express they heard what sounded like an explosion and dispatched appliances to the scene.

On the scene, Thomas's brother, Larry Pierre, said his sister, Nicole Thomas, had called him to give him the news, even as he was on the bus complaining about the traffic caused by the accident.

"I got numb," Thomas told the Express, adding when the bus got to the accident scene he got out. "I slowly walked across to see if it was true. It turned out to be true. I really eh know how to deal with it yet. He was the youngest of all the siblings."

Thomas worked at the Bermudez factory in Champ Fleurs.

The Express also tried to speak to the relatives of Francis. They were at the EWMSC mortuary where the post-mortem on all three bodies had been done.

Poochoon's brother, who did not want to be named, said, "She was a nice lady. She didn't have any kids but she treated her nieces and nephews like her own. She was a very likable person, very friendly, very community oriented."

Poochoon was a Clerk 2 at the Treasury Department in Port of Spain.

The relative said because of where she lived she often left home early to beat the traffic. "She don't drive hard, she takes her time to go up the highway," he said.

He said he was told that when Poochoon saw the B-15 coming towards her she tried to pull away but could not.

The road death toll stood at 135 up to last evening. Chaguanas police are investigating.