Updated: 6:34am – A drinking party of four friends tragically ended after the vehicle they were travelling in veered off Waimalika Bridge in Nadi, into the river below claiming the life of Shalveen Goundar.
It was reported that Mr Goundar was part of a drinking party with friends when the incident happened at around 2am.
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The late, Shalveen Goundar . Photo: Kelvin Goundar - The 26-year-old was a former student of Korovuto College and had been working at a hotel in Nadi as a rental car dealer for three months. Mr Goundar was living with his parents and one sibling at Transmitter Road in Malolo, Nadi.
- Police had to wait for hours for the tide to recede before they could salvage the car. 19-year-old Kelvin Goundar said the news of his brother’s death had come as a shock for their family.
“He had called us after work on Tuesday at around 8pm that he was going to join his friends for a few drinks and it got us very worried so we advised him to come home but he still went instead,” Kelvin said.
“Early Wednesday one of his friends informed us that he was involved in an accident and that we needed to be at Namaka Police Station but when we got there, the police officers informed us that he had died.”
Kelvin labeled his elder brother as a funny and loving person.
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Police co-ordinate the salvaging of the vehicle that Shalveen Goundar died in after a horrific accident at Waimalika Bridge in Sabeto, Nadi, on January 17, 2018. Photo: Arieta Vakasukawaqa - “I had made his some dinner hoping he would come home on Tuesday for us to enjoy it together but unfortunately this had to happen,” he said with tears in his eyes.
Kelvin said they were awaiting a post mortem examination before finalising funeral arrangements.
“We had plans to get him married but he always advised me to renovate our family home or see that our parents were well looked after before we both settled down,” he said.
His mother, 53-year-old, Vijay Lakshmi was in tears, she said that the tragic news of his son’s death was heartbreaking.
“He is our eldest son and for his life to end this way it’s just so painful for me and my husband,” she said.
-Fiji Sun
Featured image: Younger brother Kelvin Goundar (middle) with a photo of Shalveen flanked by his parents on January 17, 2018. Photo: Arieta Vakasukawaqa
