UPDATED: Transport Minister orders probe into deadly crash ... JCF, JDF members injured

Transport Minister Mike Henry has expressed disappointment that persons sworn to uphold the law were participants in a collision on Friday night which left four people dead. 

The incident happened along the McCook's Pen main road in St Catherine when two cars travelling in opposite directions collided.

Three of the deceased have so far been identified as 27-year-old Tameka Tomlinson of St John’s Road in Spanish Town, St Catherine; 37-year-old Avia Simpson of Longville Park, Clarendon; and Sanny Harvey.

Six other people, including a policeman and a soldier were injured.

In a release today, Henry did not say how the cop and the soldier participated. 

However, he said he has been informed that both motorcars in which the men were travelling were operating as public passenger vehicles without the requisite road licences and insurance coverage.

He says he will be sending a strong message to people who use their private motor vehicles illegally as public passenger vehicles.

According to Henry, the practice will not be condoned as passengers must be protected against any injury that they may sustain in a crash.

Henry says he has ordered the Road Safety Unit to conduct a detailed analysis of the black boxes of the two motor vehicles.

Preliminary reports indicate that speeding and overtaking were the major contributors to the crash.

The transport ministry says the collision was so intense that it caused the four airbags in both motor vehicles to be deployed.

NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect a clarification issued by Henry. The Minister said if his original release had inferred any implication of police or security, there was no such intent. The minister said what he intended to infer was that if members of the security forces were passengers, and if the vehicles were being operated illegally, this would have been known to them; as the security forces know that only red plates are to carry passengers. The clarification comes in light of an article published by the Gleaner Online which stated that the Minister said the members of the security forces contributed to the crash. The minister said he said no such thing.