CRITICAL CRASH IN JA : 12 hurt in Mandela crash taken to the the Spanish Town Hospital

Thursday, February 02, 2017— Tanesha Mundle    

About 12 people were yesterday taken to the the Spanish Town Hospital with serious injuries following a two-vehicle collision at the Caymanas/Mandela Highway intersection in St Catherine.

A Toyota Hiace minibus, which was transporting passengers from Spanish Town to Portmore, and a Nissan motor car were extensively damaged in the collision.

Up to press time last night the driver of the motor car was unconscious and in critical condition.

The minibus involved in yesterday’s crash.
(Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

According to Corporal Lloyd Wellington of the Ferry Police Station, the motor car was heading towards Spanish Town when it collided with the passenger bus which was turning right at the traffic light. The bus, the police corporal said, lost control and hit one of the posts holding a set of traffic lights. The motor car, added the policeman, also lost control and then slammed into the right pole for the traffic light breaking it.

Both drivers and their passengers reportedly received head injuries and broken bones.

According to Corporal Wellington, “It appears that both drivers were travelling at a high speed.”

In the meanwhile, Wellington, who did not say who was at fault in yesterday’s crash, warned that the police will be go after drivers of Hiace passenger buses who continue to put the lives of others at risk with their reckless behaviour.

“We are coming at them full force because they are driving without due care and concern for other users of the public thoroughfare,” he said.

Wellington said that following yesterday’s accident he seized licence plates from three minibuses for defective tyres and other offences.