Three killed in St James crash
LILLIPUT, St James — Three people were killed and one left battling for life yesterday when the car in which they were travelling slammed into a truck along a section of the North Coast Highway, which passes through Lilliput, in this western parish.
Relatives identified the dead as 17-year-old Daniel Carty and 23-year-old Romaine McLean, both of Lilliput; and Mario Campbell, a mechanic, also of a St James address.
According to an eyewitness, a blue Mitsubishi motor car which was being driven by McLean towards Falmouth swerved to avoid a collision with another vehicle — which stopped abruptly in front of it — and landed in the path of a truck that was travelling in the opposite direction.
“The blue car was coming from the Montego Bay end and a car stopped suddenly before it. The driver swerved to avoid crashing in the car and headed straight into the truck,” the eyewitness said.
“As a driver you should have reflex. The driver should just lick the car that stopped in front of him and they would be alive today,” the eyewitness added.
McLean, Carty and Campbell died on the spot, while a fourth man, said to be the brother of McLean, was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he has been admitted in
critical condition.
It was not clear if the driver of the truck was injured. The truck was seen on its side along the roadway near the mangled remains of the Mitsubishi car in which McLean’s body was trapped for hours.
Residents of Lilliput, where McLean and Carty lived, crowded the scene of the accident. Friends and relatives wept openly as police team from the traffic department of the St James Police Division tried to bring order to the scene.
“Is mi cousin; dem dead off,” wept one young man who had to be consoled
by others.
A short distance away, a distraught Sandra Smith, Carty’s mother, stood in disbelief. She was surrounded by friends and family members for emotional support.
Further up the lane, a small gathering assembled at McLean’s grandmother’s home. Included among the group were McLean’s common-law spouse and their two-year-old son.
The woman was too shocked to speak. Others, however, were more vocal.
“Two dead yard going to be in the same lane,” remarked one man as he drank rum from a flask. He told the Jamaica Observer that it was his second flask since he was hit with the horrible news.
Meanwhile, the accident created a massive build-up of traffic along the stretch of road. Curious onlookers parked their vehicles to get a view of the scene where the pieces of glass and metal were strewn across the roadway.