Highway Crash: Five Dead and Seven Injured in Trelawny. On Sunday morning, July 6, hospital authorities reported that five people were dead and seven others were injured. This was after a Hiace bus veered off the North Coast Highway. It crashed into several palm trees.
The tragic highway crash happened around 2:00 a.m. near Salt Marsh in Trelawny, Jamaica. Law enforcement officials stated that excessive speeding was the primary cause of the accident.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary McKenzie is the Commanding Officer for the Public Safety Enforcement Branch of the JCF. He told the press that four men and a woman died in the highway crash.
He said the bus was traveling in a westerly direction. Upon approaching a left-hand curve, the driver lost control of the vehicle.
As a result, the vehicle collided with several palm trees and flipped over before crashing into a concrete light pole.
The police and an emergency team from the Falmouth Hospital and the Trelawny Fire Brigade responded to the Highway crash. They carefully removed the victims from the wreckage.
Victims of a highway crash in Trelawny, Jamaica, were reportedly traveling to a Birthday party
Superintendent Ainsley McCarthy, head of the Trelawny police division, stated that the victims were reportedly on their way from Spanish Town. They were heading to a birthday party in Hanover when the crash occurred.
Additionally, Superintendent McCarthy noted that the highway crash reportedly occurred at 2:30 a.m. So, any attendance at a party during that time would have been illegal. The usual cut-off time for parties is 2:00 a.m., unless an extension has been granted.
Further, he stated that he was unsure whether any such extension had been granted.
The unfortunate highway crash has increased road fatalities in the parish of Trelawny to 15 since the beginning of the year. This number is six more than during the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lucien Jones, Vice Chair of the National Road Safety Council, responded to the news of the Trelawny crash. He expressed concern that the early progress made in reducing road fatalities has been undermined. This progress is threatened by a recent surge in deadly motor vehicle accidents.