Dominica news online (DNO) sincerely apologizes for an error in our initial report on a fatal traffic accident which occurred on the Salisbury public road on Sunday.
The accident resulted in the death of Astaphan Luke and not Michael Rodney as was earlier reported by DNO.
According to information which DNO received Luke was driving to Colihaut when the accident occurred.
Dominican-born Luke, who resides in Canada, was in Dominica for the Mahaut Reunion which was officially opened on Sunday afternoon.
According to the official police report Luke suffered serious injuries and died on the spot.
Investigations continue.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Luke family.
“I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love.” -Leo Buscaglia
Asto – Our dearest cousin, you will be missed and never will be forgotten. Your time with us was way to short. The frienship and love that we had will be cherished forever. Our heartfelt condolences to the Luke family and their extended family. We feel your sorrow and pain. Our prayers and thoughts are with the family, God is with you in your time of grief. Eternal rest grant unto Asto O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon you. Asto rest in peace. – Burlington, Canada
Heartfelt symporty to jerry,kerwin,jackln the rest of the luke family and to the people of mahaut,may his soul rest in peace,i still can’t beleived that astaphan is gone.Be strong and have faith in god.
RIP Awan and my condolences to Jacklyn and the rest of the family.
Brenda my girl, hold on strong. You are truely your father’s daughter. You took all Asto’s ways. Nice pleasant young lady. I am deeply sorry about your loss, it broke my heart when I saw you on Marpin News on Monday. I am here if you need a friend ok B.
Deepest sympathy, to the family& mr.Luke was a great man!
Sad to hear
God Bless& rest his soul.
My condolences go out to the Luke family during this difficult time. Cousin Asto you will never be forgotten. Your time with us was way to short and I will never forget you and all the wondeful memories created with my family. May you rest in peace Cousin. Love you forever.
Asto – Nethilia and Colins – our thoughts and prayers go to all your family
we miss you
we love you and will continue to remember you always
may your soul rest in peace in the presence of the Lord
My sympathy,,,, to thé Luke’s family…close friend of thé family… Take care and may thé god of Comfort bring u much Comfort during this time..
Luke, you are gone but not forgotten. You were a great friend to our family. We sympathise with the Astaphan’s family and may the Lord strengthen the family in their loss.
R.I.P to my godfather! Its so sad how you died,but you are in a better place now. I hope to attend your funeral soon. You was a very good man with a great heart and soul. Noone deserve to die like that. i love you and theres no other godfather like you!…….MERIAH JOHN!!!!!
Our Deepest Sympathies to the Luke Family and their extended Family during this tragic loss! May God give you courage,strength and comfort to deal with the loss of Astaphan. May his soul rest in peace!
From Ajax, Ont. Canada
Dad I will be there soon. And for all you a holes you can keep your negative comments too your self. Brianne and Elizibeth be strong I will be there on Saturday
RIP Mr. Luke. This is a tragedy and my heartfelt sympathy to the family at this time.
JUST A THOUGHT: Did it occur to anyone that maybe he had a heart attack and that is why he crossed the line on the road. Just saying it may not be his driving.
such a tragic and sad accident. my heartfelt sympathy to Astaphans’s family. He will be missed greatly by everyone who knew him. R.I.P Friend
My heartfelt sympathy to the Luke family. My prayers are with you. God is with you in your time of grief and will definitely console you. God bless all of you.
Eternal rest grant unto my Uncle and have perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace now and forever Burlington Canada
Live each day as if it was your last! My uncle taught me that.
Uncle we are all on borrowed time! You were such an amazing human being, I’m so blessed and honored to have you been apart of my life! You memories will forever live on in all our hearts. RIP Uncle
allu dominicans too like to say wat allu want with allu mouth…….i was onie o the 1st persons dere wen the accident happened and to be honest that corner dere in salisbury is a very dangerous corner…………we Dominicans need to take it easy on the road…………i pull up waiting for bus and so d man just pass me dere as d man turn i hear a big noise wen i come down d road i seeing d man die on the spot……………..people say people does die fast but first time i see dat in my life…….my preys goes out to the family…..
Through the 20 plus years of our working relationship we grew to become friends.You were an wonderful person and You will be dearly missed around here my old friend.Deepest sympathies to the Luke family…
My dearest cousin Astaphan you will be missed. I cannot even write these words without crying, but I know you would not want me to contine. When I remember the good times we had and how you would light up the house when you come to visit this will help me to get over that great lost. You will surely be missed.
My heartfelt condolences to the Luke family. I feel your sorrow and pain. My prayers and thoughts are with the family. God is with you in your time of grief and will surely console you. May the almight Father keep and bless all of you.
Eternal rest grant unto Astaphan Luke O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen!
we have loss a good friend that has be around with our family for may year. ASTO it will not be the same without we will miss u, my heart is in pain i hve cry but i know u will’nt want us to go on crying . u would say keep strong and take care of each other. burlington will’nt be the same without you at christmas time and all the happy time we had as a family . my hearfelt sympathy goes out to the luke family , you have loss a good memmber of your family may he rest in peace . u will be miss
to the decease family,my deepest sympathy to you God is still God.and to you Mr.M,Rodney.God Holds our life in his hands,God is the 1 that gives and takes ,no matter how it happen,yet still we cannot question God on what happened,so don’t blame yourself for this inncedent.Just thank God that no 1 else was hurt,Only God is the judge of it all.and we don’t no why is Mr.Luke it happen to ,yet still we cannot question God..so hold on strong Mr.M,Rodney , my prayers are with you and your family.
Dad you will never be forgotten, only missed and loved. Jamie,lianne Miya and Carter. Brianne,an Elizibeth be strong, love Jamie
My dearest father you will be miss. Your grandkids are griefing. WE LOVE YOU. This tragedy has brought this family closer. A bond that will never be broken and a LOVE that will last FOREVER, One thing that we know and will take courage in, is to be absent from this body is to be Presence with the LORD. We will meet again one day in PARADISE dad. Jackie Luke Bramble
My condolences to you Jacqueline and your family. May God’s mercy and kindness give you and yours comfort during this sad time. He said come to me those who are heavily laden and I will give you rest. I know you since you were a little girl in Massacre. Hold strong. God will see you through.
To the Family of the decease Plz accept my sympathy and stay strong in God!…And to Micheal Rodney.. in spite of the situation stay strong…Things do happen but only God know’s..Hold on Strong!!.
To the Family of the decease.. Plz accept my sympathy and stay strong..And to Micheal Rodney and Family stay strong in God!
so what u are saying is Skeritt that cause the accident THAT IS SO NOT TRUE ONE WAS ON HIGH SPEED AND COULDN,T COTROL THE SPEED he was also wearing no seatbelt the road has no problem people have to learn to control there speed
couldn,t the truck driver stop when he see the jeep come towards the truck. then mabe there wouldn,t have been a death
Did you see where the truck landed.. It was dead left, therefore from a logical point of view one would say that he gave the jeep enough place to pass however, the man on the jeep was driving on the left side of the road that’s what caused the accident.. He was on the wrong side of the road approaching a corner so I don’t think that the driver of the truck had the time to see him and stop .. What he did was to stay on the left which was the right thing to do.. I believe when Dominicans who live abroad for a long time come home, they must be driven first before they take a vehicle to drive because driving on different side of the road in different countries can be quite confusing….
right on!
so u reALLY THINK ITS THE JEEP THAT SEND THE TRUCK IN THE BUSH?
you ppl must learn that God is the only one that have life and death in his hands all you just saying the truck driver God loves the man God so he take him home just pray for the strengt of his family and stop blameing the PM and stop blameing pulicwork for the road learn to thank GOD FOR WHAT WE HAVE
what is your point?
@Truth: you can see in the pic that the truck all in the bush;left the road, if there was a cliff the truck driver would be dead. Dominicans always want to blame someone else. In everything is a blame game in that country shucks man
the jeep was going too fast and trucks are really heavy so they cant stop as fast as the lighter vehicles and dat corner is a blind corner
rip to this man, we complain of too many deaths and too many drug bust in the country, but we all look forward to seeing something new on dominica news online huh!
MY DEEPEST SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILY FROM ALL HIS FRIENDS HERE TORONTO MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL STRONG .
Rest in Peace
one of the nicest men i ever met. Astaphan Luke. Keep strong Laurel, i know it is a great loss for you
R.I.P Pops, i will always love u and never will i forget u. Will carry your name proudly, n make sure your existance on this earth, is nvr forgotten.
condolences to Astaphan Luke family. This was his destiny. Drivers, Pedestrians be very prudent. 2012 is a leap year.
all u forget is public works that pave the road and not china man china do the groundworks for the road and public works paved it so u all have to question public works engineers cause they that dont know how to pave a road surface with the right texture and by the way it was the SUV drivers fault he was on the wrong side of the road the truck pulled all the way over to avoid him and he still come on the truck so guess who is to blame now
noow is not the time to blame ok so keep ur opinions to urself
I may sound like a crack record,but it worth repeating.We don’t know who next,and Since it is impossible to be saved after death.Friends be ready fore you may die today.
My sympathy to the family and the entire Mahaut community, that’s so sad,
My deepest, heartfelt condolences to Queenester and family. I know it will not be an easy time for you but find strength in the Lord. Be strong for the kids. Do not bottle the pain inside. Embrace the love and support of your family and friends.
Another wonderful people has left this world. May he rest in peace. Just saw him recently. Can’t believe that he is no longer with us.
Another wonderful human being has left this world. May he rest in peace. Just saw him recently. Can’t believe that he is no longer with us.
to the family accept my sympathy. may God see u through. God is our strength in times of trouble and despair, hold on strong.
Uncle, love you and gonna miss you tremendously! You were one of the most loving men in my life. Full of charm, love and charisma. I Know daddy and the rest of the family in heaven are waiting on you with open arms. Give daddy lots of kisses for me….Missing you already. All my love uncle R.I.P uncle Astaphan aka Awan
My heartfelt condolences to the Family and Friends of Mr. Astaphan Luke. “The angels are always near to those who are grieving, to whisper to them that their loved ones are safe in the hands of God.” Dad, I know that you have lost a very close and dear friend. I know it’s very difficult. Although it’s difficult today, to see beyond the pain and sorrow, look back at the memories that you guys have created to help comfort you tomorrow.
he was cumin to meet us after he came out frm where he was goin… R.I.P uncle…miss u already
We should have courses or short road tests issued to returnees to test their driving prowess here before they are allowed to drive.
As a returnee myself and after not having driven in Dominica for 12 years, coming back here and driving takes a-lot of re-adjusting and getting used to, to say the least.
@ be wise
You can say that again. In Canada we drive on the opposite side. Those who drive in DA have to be so careful. This could have happened; mistaken side. So sad he is gone and in such a manner.
to the luke family of mahaut my prays go out to you all that this time .
What a fateful day for the deceased gentleman. May his family draw their strength from God. And for us who are alive, let us consider our ways and prepare for our earthly exit. Grace & Peace!!
What a tragic loss for the family. You left Canada in “three” on vacation to enjoy yourselves. Now you will return in a pair. I cannot begin to understand the grief that the family will endure especially on their return to Canada. Oh Family, Do not despair, It is when you are weak you will be made strong, God’s grace is sufficient for you. He will see you through, when all else fails, seek God’s everlasting healing. He is there and has never left! You are in my prayers.
rip uncle we will all miss u, still cant beleive your gone
My condolecnces to the wife and the rest. b strong ok..it not easy i know.
damn man, it is time for the manufacturers to make those vehicles with stronger materials, are they making them so people can come back to buy, what is going on/ this vehicle look like paper, there stronger materials to make those vehicles. i hope they look into it cause to many lives are being loss.
If the manufacturers were to make the bodies of these vehicles stronger, they would have too many vehicles on their hands not being sold, so they are making them as paper
@ 88
If it is an SUV, they could be dangerous vehicles. All over the world those vehicles have caused many accidents.
Some years ago a DA family in the U.S. (I believe in Florida) died or most of them died. The father was driving the SUV. He died.
I heard they are dangerous vehicles. They turn over easily.
What a fool you are to blame the makers of the vehicle for the miscalculations of reckless driving !
Sad may his soul rest in peace.
Take care of the rest of the family, oh Jah. May their days be blessed with the richness of your glory. May their spirits be fortified and their hopes made strong. R.I.P Mr. Luke.
I did not get to meet him but I am very sorry that he is not with us . I am his first daughter’s husband and we were about to visit him when he return to Canada which will never happen. I will take good care of Jacqueline that I promise you. Rest in peace my dear father-in-law. Declan Bramble coming from NewYork
jacqueline my deepest and hearfelt sympathy to u and the rest of your family . when i heard i thought about u . your dad was a very close friend to my family in canada . be strong and may your dad rest in peace.
queen esther and family, my deepest condolences. sorry for your loss, may you find comfort in the Lord. I know it will not be easy for you. death is a sting and it stings harder when the person is taken so quickly from us and unexpeectedly. be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I pray to God that his soul was saved because this is all that matters at the end. Trust God to take care of you and the child/children. i’ve had losses too so i know it is not easy.
Heartfelt condolences to Queen Esther, her daughter and other members of the family. Words cannot express the pain I’m feeling at this time of grief.When I heard the news earlier today, I lost it! I could not believe what I had just heard.This sure is not an easy time for anyone.So Lord, give us the strength to cope with this tragedy.May we find comfort in the warm memories of Asto. Rest in peace dearly departed, until we meet again.
time them reunion business seize…every reunion something tragic happening.. time to stop…
that is so true, in castle bruce reunion, in salisbury reunion, and now mahaut reunion, i wonder what is going on. to the family of the late may god continue to give all of you strength on you loss. i can relate to that so take it easy
laplaine reunion also… the Brumant gentleman.
How sad !
what a fool, now it not time for this kind of comment .
Astaphan (Asto), was one of the nicest people I knew. This man would give you the shirt of his back.
I was shocked and saddened to hear of his passing yesterday.
I understood from someone who was at the scene after the accident that he was ejected from the vehicle and broke his neck. I was told he was not wearing his seat belt. Whether this is true or not, let’s take a lesson from this accident. Please, please wear your seat belts when you are driving or a passenger in a vehicle in Dominica (or anywhere else for that matter). It is there for your safety.
Asto, I will surely miss you over the Caribana season. I was looking forward to having you over to my place that weekend.
To Laurel and the family my sympathies. God will see you guys through these tough times. Uncle Awan was here to enjoy the Reunion but God had better plans for him. Keep strong.
R.I.P
R.I.P Uncle Awan. I will surely miss you. Missed you by a few hours.
Rest in peace ASTO. My condolences to the family.
My sympathy to his family. Friends of mine will be travelling to DA this week to family reunion I will pray that their stay will be safe.
mr. had 2 die in dat kind of an accident.
May God comfort the families during this time of sorrow. Please let us drive more carefully, to avoid the loss of life. I am deeply saddened and I’m not sure whether I know the person who died.
Too sad. How sad! Deepest condolences to his family and friends.
My sincere condolences to the family in Mahaut, Canada and England. From a Mahautnian. RIP Astaphan aka Awan.
Rest in Peace…I was down in DA for vacation..these roads are scary. Tracks coming out of nowhere at high speed. We almost ran of the road a few times…please be careful..
RIP Uncle.
its about time we took out this dlp in power………….all of that is the government fault
@ Kevin U wrong it is not Govt fault.. IT is SKERRIT FAULT!! China never making good products!
all u forget is public works that pave the road and not china man china do the groundworks for the road and public works paved it so u all have to question public works engineers cause they that dont know how to pave a road surface with the right texture and by the way it was the SUV drivers fault he was on the wrong side of the road the truck pulled all the way over to avoid him and he still come on the truck so guess who is to blame now
Are you guys serious?
Anyway papa all u stupid eh…where government or skerrit coming in dat?
@ kevin
This is not necessary. It is out of place in this article and uncalled for.
what a dam fool
that vehicle is like a tin can and once hit it crumbles. these vehicles are sold for more than EC160,000, yet little or no security features. the higher security speck which cost much less in the US is not made for this market. We are simple guinea-pigs! why should our lives be less.
Very True
u must be an idiot we can order what ever vehicle we want the high cost is cause of what customs charging us and ill tell u this no security features will save ur life at the speeds mr was driving when he crash and he was also on the wrong side of the road as well
u ppl a are dumb and ignorant to the stuff that u never take time to understand the things u doe know about. do u understand the fact of crash test and y i more solide vehicle would be in a much worst situation. y couldn u make a better comment and say well probably he never had his seat belt on or something worth sayin. to many time allu ppl like to find somebody or something to blame. y couldn it be said that he was speeding or the truck driver was tired make a proper get away. and jus deal with the fact. its annoying that something or somebody have to get a blame for human error. oh is skerrit fault. chiiney roa not good. blah blah. watch how allu driving beforee allu talk.
I just got acquainted to the man,beautiful wife and daugher. He was so full of life and ready to enjoy his vacaion. Two days later he is dead. The rest of us must stick in our minds how short life is and endeavour to live in PEACE with each other instead of all this bickering especially about politics. I feel for his family.May he rest in peace
i am very sad to hear about one of own dear family friend . he will be miss . it’s not going to be the same without u in burligton canada.
u are right ,it’snot going to be the same without him in burlington cananda he was full of life i will miss him . rest in peace my family.
My sympathy goes out to the families and friends of the deceased.Best he had remain in Canada, then he would be informed of the reunion. On another note , when your time has arrived no one can stop that
So what are you saying then, you contradicting yourself. if he had died in Canada would you say ‘he should have come to Dominica? Death is everywhere and you can’t run away from it.
this accident could hve been avoided……….he was speedin wit a huge dumper truck dominicans dont speed in salisbury at all…well i guess he didnt had 2 come to my island cuz all of this would not be happening….all i can say now is RIP
Sorry for the lost of life. R.I.P. D.N.O. it`s all right we all make mistakes only some of us are not given a chance to apologize.
that is so tragic
That’s a sad situation. To the Luke Family especially Aunty Catherine. May his soul rest in peace
@ dons
I remember Catherine. I hope she is doing well, in good health. I knew the family, their deceased parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ranny (ie) as we called them. The parents were very nice people and so were all their children. God willing, when I visit DA I must try to remember to look her up. I knew another brother who had resided in Toronto. He returned to DA some years ago. I have not heard much about him. I hope is well. It is a grieving time for the entire family. I am so shocked at Astaphan’s passing. It is sad, sad, sad. My condolence again to all of you.
So sad ! May his soul rest in peace
Another sad accident. As soon as I saw the name I said, “That name looks familiar” and said to myself this could not be him, in denial due to the circumstances which I did not expect to read.
I know Astaphan and his family very well since childhood. How sorry I am to hear of the accident and that he passed on. It is shocking. My words are insufficient to express my feelings.
Astaphan, you were a nice person to everyone. I can only say good things about you. Whenever we met you were always so friendly and respectful. All those who knew you in Dominica and in Canada will echo my sentiments and more. You will be missed.
My heartfelt sympathy to the Luke family. I feel your sorrow. My prayers are with you. Take heart. God is with you in your time of grief and will surely console you. God bless all of you.
Eternal rest grant unto Astaphan Luke O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen!
sad
omg dno! very disappointed! hmmphh yall really need to get police reports first b4 reporting.. dat could affect michael rodney’s family, thinkin is d man dat die.. awa wi
But thanks for correcting it. What a relief to the rodney’s family!
To Astaphan Luke family, Accept my sympathy and stay strong. God will take u through this tragedy.
I agree DNO needs to get the facts before reporting. I know you all want to be the first to break the news but you all also need to consider the human factor. Do you know how devastating it is to find out that a loved one died from the internet?
@ University Grad
DNO sincerely apologized. It is nothing new for me that the Media can make a mistake. Sometimes they are given incorrect information. It may not be their fault. We should comprehend that and not chastise DNO. Be open-minded. Live and let live and pass it by. This is what I did.
Some years ago prior to Caribana day, a terrible accident occurred in Toronto, caused by a drunken driver. It involved three Dominicans. One who resided here and two who resided in the U.S. Those from the U.S. died. It was a sad occasion.
The news all the way in Dominica was that the one who resided in Toronto also died. She was badly injured. Fortunately for her she got good medical care and eventually recovered, if not fully but probably 99 percent. After she recovered I saw her on two occasions. The last time I saw her she told me that she was going to Dominica ‘to show the people there that she did not die.’ I heard that she is now residing in DA. Apologies must be accepted and mistakes forgiven.
RIP BRO
R.I.P. Deepest condolences to the family and friends.
May his soul rest in peace
DNO, it seems you have the wrong name of the person that died from the accdident. please check your infor and confirm that it is correct before posting.
people tired complain about the reporters. please change as soon as possible.
missinformation dno get ur facts straight this calls for a law suit
victim was a canadian resident NAMED ASTAPHAN LUKE
people just dying now wii…hmph last week monday we lost 1, now look another one gone.
Vehicular accidents do happen everywhere, I am residing outside DA where you have six to eight lanes,driving on the highways where the speed limit is over 100 etc, I do have my G drivers license, whenever i visit DA i do not drive, i prefer to take the bus for which i have no other choice, however if i had some other choices i would not travel by vehicle in DA,
My condolences to the entire family, may his soul RIP
@ Dominican/Montreal
It was stated that if people can drive in Dominica, they can drive anywhere. Today some of the roads are better and the others will be better in time. I recognize that it is wise to take precaution. If one wishes to take the bus and feel comfortable doing that, it is their preference. The same applies in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada. Sometimes we are better off taking the bus. It may be slow but we could be safer.
instead a war against bad drivers they have a war against the ganga herb found on king solomon grave
what the hell did i just read. a who dat idiot for
This is so sad to know that he came to enjoy his self.in the midst of all this i want to send out symphathy to the family of aone in mahaut. just take it easy and know that god do not gives us what we cannot manage.
today is a very sad day in dominica ,my heart goes out to the family of the victims
Oh my Gosh ,., feel hurt
Lord Jesus all what I am asking you is that take control over your people while they travelling on this road
and please lord give the family strength and courage to take this heart broken news
R.I.P
So sad Rest in peace. condolences to the family.
R.I.P Mr Luke!!!!!!!!!!
Not sure who is Michael Rodney though, but our fam has confirmed it as Mr A. Luke!
Life is so short- today you are here, tomorrow you can be gone!
Just like that
REST IN PEASE
THAT IA TRAGIC INDEED.
SO SAD. HOLD STRONG FAMILY.
I RECALL DURING LA PLAIN REUNION ONE GUY DROWN.
SALISBURY REUNION ONE YOUNG BOY DROWN
AND NOW MAHAUT REUNION IS MET WITH GRIEF
every reunion a sole is sacraficed…
To the family of the decease , I am extending heartfelt sympathy to you . Life is so …. Fragile . One minute you have breathe , the next you’re getting ready to be 6 feet below . For a moment that was suppose to be an enjoyable one , it has now been smeared with the pain of sudden death . I’m really sorry for this loss . God is in control – at least he died in his country of birth . May your soul rest in peace !
oh my. so sorry to hear
This is so heart breaking and sad