One dead, many spared
Published:Saturday | October 4, 2014 | 1:23 PMRyon Jones
Tragic it was, but much worse it could have been. This was the view of everyone on the scene of an accident involving a coaster bus and an Epping gas tanker on the Stony Hill Road in St Andrew, yesterday morning.
The coaster driver, Junior Douglas, was the only casualty up to press time, but 22 other persons, some in serious condition, were taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Kingston Public Hospital.
Among those taken to the hospital was the common-law wife of the coaster driver, who is said to have suffered serious injuries to her legs.
"If he had hit the (gas) tank everybody would have been in danger, so it sad that he lost his life, but I think in hitting the truck where he hit it, he saved everybody else's life. I was so lucky that he didn't hit the tank and there were no sparks or leakage of fuel," said Everett Austin, who was the sole occupant of the left-hand drive tanker, which was laden with fuel.
Forty-six-year-old Austin was en route to Port Antonio to off-load fuel, while the coaster was travelling in the opposite direction from the border of St Mary and St Andrew heading to downtown, Kingston.
"I was on my way up (the hill), I am in my lane, the left lane, and as I approached the corner, the bus just came around the corner reckless and out of control and just slammed into the truck," Austin related. "It took me some moments to come out of the truck, as I was a bit dazed. Persons had exited the bus and were running and screaming."
Six police units from the St Andrew North Police Division were used to transport persons to the hospitals.
Douglas, who was the owner of the bus, but not the regular driver, succumbed on the spot. It was later revealed that the only reason he was at the wheel at that time of the morning was because the regular driver, who arrived on the scene weeping uncontrollably, was late to report for duty.
"When we arrived, the coaster bus was attached to the side of the oil tanker with the driver pinned inside," assistant superintendent Sandy Dawson of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, shared.
"We sought assistance from the police in terms of a wrecking service, as we had to pull the coaster bus away from the oil tanker in order to commence extrication using rescue tools. It seems as if the driver's neck was broken and the two arms were broken.
"Information reaching us is that there might have been braking problems coming down, because I understand that passengers wanted the bus to stop and the vehicle could not stop."
Inspector Linval Harrison, sub-officer in charge at Stony Hill Police Station, deemed speeding to have been a factor in the accident.
"In my opinion and experience, I honestly believe that speeding was a cause due to the angle that it hit the truck and also the impact on the bus. The angle that it hit indicated that it overshot the corner at a (high) speed and that is what caused it," shared Harrison
The particular section of the road where the accident occurred, which is a deep corner on a steep decline/slope, is an accident hot spot according to Corporal Winston Anderson.