TRAGEDY struck yesterday in St Thomas when one of the vehicles in a funeral convoy got out of control and hit down five people, killing a woman and injuring four others along the Ken Jones Highway.

The Golden Grove police last night identified the dead woman as Icilda Williams, 62, of Port Antonio. The injured were taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital, where two were admitted and the others treated and released.

According to the police, Williams, along with the injured, were travelling from Portland to St Thomas to a funeral.

Ralph Erskine, the driver of the car involved in the accident, was

among the mourners who attended yesterday’s funeral service for the three siblings — Anna-Kay Roberts, 12, and her two younger brothers, Carlton Carty Jnr, eight; and six year-old Devante Carty — who were mowed down by a motorcar nearly three weeks ago. He was heading to the interment in Hopefield, Portland.

“I was travelling behind another car in the procession when the driver made a sudden stop,” Erskine told the Observer. “To avoid hitting him I swerved and the car began skidding straight into a group of persons standing along the highway,” he said.

Erskine said the group was apparently passengers of a minibus that had broken down along the highway while heading to a funeral in St Thomas. Several cars, he added, had stopped in the vicinity, their drivers apparently helping to effect repairs to the broken down minibus.

According to Erskine, he was not speeding, claiming he had taken heed to the warning from Pastor Errol Scott who had earlier delivered the sermon at the thanksgiving service for the three children.

Pastor Scott had warned drivers that if they drink, they should not drive and if they intended to speed they should not “go anywhere”.

At the same time, a constable at the Golden Grove Police Station said: “The driver of the white Toyota Corolla motor car was travelling in a convoy and the information I got was that they were travelling at a fast speed. The vehicle in front of the Corolla slowed, and the driver of the Corolla swerved to the left to avoid running into the back of the vehicle in front and ran straight in a group of people who were standing nearby,” the constable said.

Meanwhile, anger and tears intermingled in Prospect, St Thomas where thousands of mourners had flocked to a thanksgiving service for the lives of three siblings who were killed by a motor car nearly three weeks ago.

Not even exhortations from Pastor Scott, that death is a “transition to another dimension” where family members would meet again, could console the children’s mother, Icilda Treasure, and the father of the two boys, Carlton Carty Snr.

They cried throughout the ceremony and had to be comforted by family members and friends who took turns providing support. Both sat on the raised platform that served as the rostrum, the coffins well beyond their view.

And few tried desperately, but failed, to calm Anna-Kay’s father, an obviously distraught and angry Jerome Roberts, who shouted and swore, unabashedly.

Colonel Cove, a lawn that sits along the seaside in Morant Bay, a popular venue for large — but usually less heart-wrenching — gatherings, could hardly accommodate the crowd, estimated at 5,000.

“It was a request by the family to have the service here because the church could not accommodate the crowd,” Pastor Naomi Whyte, of the Power of Faith Church in Prospect told the Observer.

Hundreds of mourners sat under a huge tent, decorated with lavender and white balloons. But for the majority, it was standing room only under the harsh rays of the sun.

Outside on the main road, the police were kept busy directing traffic, which was halted for the better part of the ceremony as many mourners opted to remain along the roadway.

Of those under the tent — unperturbed by the fierce fight between the strong winds and the tarpaulin that was meant to provide shade for those seated — many cried openly.

Some sat and shook their heads in disbelief as they stared at the two pearly white coffins, in which Carlton and Devante’s bodies lay and another combined with a shade of pink for Anna-Kay.

Students and teachers at the Morant Bay Preparatory broke down in tears as they paid tribute to Devante. There were also equally emotional tributes from teachers and students at Lyssons Primary School for Carlton Jnr, and from the Port Morant Primary & Junior High for Anna-Kay.

However, the service proved too much for some family members who fainted and had to be carried away for treatment.

Anna-Kay, Carlton and Devante were respectively remembered as a leader, a loving brother and a young boy who brought much fun and laughter to the household.

“They’re gone too soon, but they must have accomplished their goals on earth,” said Carlette Carty, the children’s aunt.

“Anna-Kay developed leadership skills quite early, was assertive, very involved and was always trying to get others in line,” she eulogised.

The siblings were mowed down by a route taxi while on their way to school in Prospect, St Thomas on June 16. The driver of the car, 20 year-old Robert Clayton, was allegedly racing with another motor car driven by 20 year-old Simroy Dixon, when the car hit the children as they awaited transportation for school. Clayton has since been slapped with a triple manslaughter charge, while Dixon was hit with a charge of dangerous driving.