Canadian tourist perishes in MoBay accident

Western Bureau:

A female Canadian tourist perished on Kent Avenue along the Montego Bay 'hip strip' early Monday morning when the vehicle in which she was a passenger got out of control and crashed into a wall.

The dead woman, who was travelling with a female friend and a male driver at the time of the accident, has been identified as 35-year-old Cynthia Giquere, whose address in Canada could not be immediately ascertained.

According to police reports, about 4:30 a.m, Giquere and her friend, who hails from Sandy Bay, Hanover, were travelling in a blue and black Toyota Corolla motor car from downtown Montego Bay towards a section of Kent Avenues, known as Dead-End, which is a popular nightspot in the western city.

On reaching close to Sandals Inn, the male driver of the car lost control of the vehicle, which skidded across the roadway and crashed into the retaining wall, which borders the sea.

Giquere and the driver both suffered serious injuries and were rushed to the hospital, where the Canadian woman was pronounced dead, and the driver treated and admitted.

"We are really disappointed to hear about this accident as we have been urging motorists to be cautious when travelling on the roadway during this holiday season," said Sergeant Andy Birch, the sub-officer in charge of the Area One Accident Reconstruction Unit.

"We are using this accident to renew our call to all motorists to drive extra careful in order to save their own lives, and the lives of other persons.

"Since the start of the year, a total of 24 persons have been killed in the 18 road accidents recorded in St James," said Birch on the last day of 2018. "This is a slight increase over the 23 persons killed over the comparative period in 2017."