Police say faulty tyre likely caused deadly St. Ann bus crash

By Clinton McGregor 

 

The police are reporting that a faulty tyre may have caused Sunday's bus crash in the Fern Gully, St. Ann, in which one woman was killed and more than a dozen children injured.

 

The victims were on a trip to St. Ann when the bus crashed.

 

Senior Superintendent Dwight Powell, head of the St. Ann Police, told Radio Jamaica News that investigators have now identified the cause of the crash.

 

"On reaching in the vicinity of the Fern Gully, the right tyre, front tyre of the vehicle reportedly blew out. The driver subsequently lost control of the vehicle which collided on the left side of the Gully," he determined.

 

Several passengers sustained injuries and were rushed to St. Ann's Bay Regional Hospital, where 49-year-old Suzette Thomas, a housekeeper of Wildman Street in Kingson, was pronounced dead. 

 

Radio Jamaica News was informed that 15 of the victims remain in hospital.

 

Seven children and eight adults are among those admitted with serious injuries.

 

Twelve of the victims - seven adults and five children - are receiving treatment at St. Ann's Bay Regional Hospital.

 

This was disclosed by the hospital's Chief Executive Officer, Delroy Morgan, who told Radio Jamaica News that two other children and an adult were transferred to the University Hospital of the West Indies and Kingston Public Hospital for further treatment. 

 

Meanwhile, SSP Powell said the recent surge in road fatalities in St. Ann is of major concern to the High Command.

 

"It must be noted that since the start of this year there have been 10 fatal collisions resulting in 12 deaths when compared to seven collisions and seven deaths for the corresponding period last year," he noted as he urged the public to observe the rules of the road.

 

"Ensure that you follow precautionary procedures and the life that you save may be your very own. We are seeing too many of these crashes occurring in the parish of St. Ann and especially on the main arterial roadway between Mammee Bay and Discovery Bay. That stretch of road is a pretty good travelling stretch and we are advising the persons to use the road with caution," he pleaded.