As soca star Onika Bostic battled for her life for another day, the man who drove the car that crashed and almost killed her spent the day praying she would recover.
Bostic, 24, lived through Saturday night after sustaining horrific head, spinal and internal injuries following a vehicular accident early that morning which left her in a coma.
Surviving the night was a miracle and a positive sign, staff at the Port of Spain General Hospital's Intensive Care Unit told relatives yesterday.
And her condition seemed to improve.
Relatives were told by attending nurses that swelling on her brain had been reduced and bleeding had stopped.
The Burning Flames lead singer was listed as stable but remained critical.
Friends and relatives were allowed two-minute visits to her bedside at the ICU yesterday.
They said she looked calm and asleep. Her mother Jacinta and brother and sister have maintained an almost constant vigil at her side.
Lead singer and manager of Burning Flames Clarence Edwards (Ounghu) is said to have flown in from Antigua to be at Bostic's side yesterday.
He was one of many local soca artistes and performers who have visited within the past two days.
Doctors have indicated that Bostic's neural (brain) activity was very low but have maintained that it was a miracle she lived through the initial surgery.
She was operated on for five hours on Saturday after the car she was driven in by fellow performer Raymond Joseph (Ninja) skidded on the Eastern Main Road in Laventille and crashed into a wall.
Friends and relatives continued to keep watch outside Bostic's hospital room. They maintained a prayer circle, hoping the soca diva would recover.
Joseph, who escaped with a minor head injury and was nursing a sore neck yesterday, said he was emotionally devastated about Bostic's condition.
She is the godmother of Ninja's two-year-old daughter Nadiegh Joseph.
But according to Joseph, she is also a close "sister and friend".
"I just want to be able to sit down with her and talk and live like we used to," he told the Express yesterday. "I am praying for a miracle, I am not dwelling on anything negative."
Joseph recalled the night of the accident, still shocked at how his car crashed.
"I was driving normally, then the car skidded left on the water close to Erica Street," he said. "I don't know if there was a 'jumbie' on the road that night but I had no choice but to pull to the left and the car kept skidding and turned over."
After his B-13 Sentra flipped over, he said he climbed out the vehicle and kept calling Bostic's name. She never answered.
"I just want to ask everybody to keep praying for her and send their blessings out to her," he said.
Bostic remains in critical condition.
Doctors are expected to update the family on her condition this morning.
