A minibus driver is dead and eight people hospitalised after a Leyland international truck contracted by Noranda Bauxite Partners collided with a Toyota Hiace minibus on the St D'Acre Main Road in St Ann yesterday.

The bus driver, who was last night identified by community members as Christopher Hall of Abouker District in the parish, died while undergoing treatment at hospital.

The nine injured persons, including six students of the Brown's Town High School in the parish, were removed from the mangled wreck of the minibus and taken to the St Ann's Bay Hospital. Two of the injured passengers, a student and an adult, were listed as serious by hospital staff yesterday.

The vehicles, which were travelling in opposite directions, collided about minutes before noon, causing delays as traffic was reduced to a single lane.

The incident left members of the Abouker community and surrounding districts in depression as Hall was known as a transport operator who took many children in that area to school for years.

The driver of the truck was taken into police custody for questioning.