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<span style="font-weight: bold">Linford Jackson, who was pinned for almost six hours beneath the truck in the tragic Portland accident </span>the night of December 19, <span style="font-weight: bold">had to ward off robbery attempts even as he was being rescued.</span>
Almost two weeks ago a truck transporting vendors from four Portland communities to the Coronation market in Kingston at about 8:00 pm, plunged over a precipice at Dam Bridge in the parish claiming the lives of 14 people.
Jackson told the Observer yesterday that after he was released from beneath the truck, <span style="font-weight: bold">one of the men transporting him out of the ravine began feeling his pocket</span>.
"I was still conscious, I hold on to my pocket and him grab my cellphone off my side," Jackson said.
"I did not do anything," he added, saying that the culprit did not appear to be a part of the ambulance crew.
Although losing his cellphone to the thief, Jackson said that he could have lost much more and is thankful that his life was spared in the accident.
According to Jackson, the loss of a cellphone is insignificant compared to what could have happened.
"I am just thankful for life," he told the Observer from his hospital bed on Tuesday.
"I could not worry about the phone," he added.
During the ordeal, Jackson begged doctors on the scene to cut off his leg so he could be taken out, but his requests were ignored and the truck instead lifted off his body.
"I just want to find the man who cut me out," said a grateful Jackson yesterday. "Anything him want, I will do. "
Last week in the aftermath of the tragedy, eyewitnesses and relatives of the victims told the Observer <span style="font-weight: bold">that robbers removed money and valuables from the injured and dead under the guise of helping after the accident.</span>
Relatives alleged that up to $70,000 was stolen from one of those killed, explaining that some people on the truck were taking money to Kingston in order to purchase goods for resale in their communities during the Christmas season.
Eight of the 14 killed in the horrific accident were from the district of Millbank, four from Comfort Castle and one each from Ginger House and Seaman's Valley.
In the meantime, State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Daryl Vaz said yesterday that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be providing $120,000 to each family to assist with the funeral expenses. The money will be paid directly to the funeral homes.
Vaz added that officers from the labour ministry would be visiting relatives of those killed to update them on the government's assistance
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