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44 hurt in Manchester smash-up
Alicia Sutherland
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Up to 44 persons, mainly students from schools in Manchester, were injured in a two-vehicle collision on the Pen Hill Road in the parish shortly before 7:00 yesterday morning.
No fatalities were reported by investigators.
Camille Newton, mother of two of the students injured in yesterday’s crash on the Pen Hill road, Manchester, is comforted by Councillor Leroy Mitchell (JLP - Walderston Division) at the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Mandeville Regional Hospital. Other students and parents of injured children are seen in background. (Photo: Urijah Deacon)
Camille Newton, mother of two of the students injured in yesterday’s crash on the Pen Hill road, Manchester, is comforted by Councillor Leroy Mitchell (JLP - Walderston Division) at the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Mandeville Regional Hospital. Other students and parents of injured children are seen in background. (Photo: Urijah Deacon) 2/2
The crash is reported to have happened after a small Hiace bus called 'Solo', travelling from Christiana to Mandeville, in an attempt to overtake a truck, experienced difficulty and swerved into a larger Hiace bus called 'Winter Fresh', which runs the Mandeville to Christiana route.
When the Observer visited the Mandeville Regional Hospital, where many of the injured persons were taken for treatment, parents of the students and curious onlookers waited with bated breath as they tried to get word on the injured. Some were also treated at the Percy Junor Hospital at Spaldings in the parish.
Third former at deCarteret College in Manchester, Nicollette Bailey — who sustained injuries to her knees and head — said that passengers began screaming when the crash occurred, and some tried to get out of the wreckage by exiting through windows.
She said that she was still feeling pain but had received treatment, which included injections and an x-ray.
"It no pretty," said Camille Newton, mother of two of the injured students, as she tried to keep updated on her daughters — both students of Bishop Gibson High School — who were being treated in separate hospitals in the morning.
Newton said that both children, aged 12 and 16 years, had suffered injuries. Both had their right legs broken, while the older one also suffered a fractured skull and bruises to the face and head.
Students from other schools, including Christiana High, Manchester High, Holmwood Technical, and Victor Dixon High were also treated for bruises, broken bones and fractures.
Councillor Leroy Mitchell (JLP - Walderston Division) told the Observer that for the past two years he has made representation to the Area Three police, to no avail, for speed traps on the Pen Hill road as accidents frequently occurred there. He said that this would deter drivers using the road from behaving recklessly.
He promised to renew the call for the speed traps.
Meanwhile, guidance counsellor at Bishop Gibson High, Diane McConnell, also called for all drivers of public passenger vehicles to get defensive driving training.
Yesterday, the Manchester Parish Council, in a press release, expressed sadness at the "early morning accident".
It made an appeal to drivers to "slow down, take heed and save a life".
"The council is appealing to members of the public to donate blood at the Mandeville Hospital. This is to assist the victims of the crash," the statement said.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz1loLV3HxU
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