By CECILY ASSON Tuesday, September 1 2009

Instead of celebrating her birthday, Ivan Ramjit mourned the death of his baby daughter Nevi Vionna who would have turned one yesterday.

Relatives broke the news to Ramjit, 40, that Nevi Vionna and his wife Shamilla Lolita Ramjit, 35, died in a car crash on the Solomon Hochoy Highway in Gasparillo on Sunday after collecting their daughter’s birthday cake.

Ramjit’s heart rate dropped briefly as he was told of their deaths under the supervision of doctors and nurses at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) late Sunday evening.

“Except for a sudden drop in his heartbeat, he has taken it in stride and is okay now,” a relative told Newsday.

Shamilla held Nevi Vionna on her lap as she sat in the front passenger seat of the car, as Ramjit was driving along the highway, when he slammed into an electricity pole. The car spun around several times before crashing into a metal barrier.

The impact of the crash propelled Nevi Vionna out of the car and she died on the spot. Her mother Shamilla succumbed to head injuries three hours later while undergoing treatment at San Fernando General Hospital.

Ramjit was being treated for injuries yesterday at the hospital but a relative told Newsday he was in satisfactory condition.

“(On Sunday) a short while after Shamilla died, family members and the doctors came together and went to his bedside where they broke the news to him.

His heartbeat dropped but the doctors assured us everything will be okay with him. I spoke to him today (yesterday) and he is doing well. He has begun dealing with it.”

The accident occurred when the family was returning to their home at Nandoo Trace, Woodland after they bought Nevi Vionna’s birthday cake at Price Smart in Chaguanas.

Relatives said the couple’s son, Vion, ten, missed the trip to Chaguanas because he insisted he did not want to go along with them.

The post mortems of Nevi Vionna and Shamilla are expected to be performed today while a funeral service for them has been tentatively planned for Thursday.