SIX people were killed and another one seriously injured early yesterday morning when a Toyota Corolla taxi slammed into a truck along the Bog Walk Gorge in St Catherine.

The six were passengers in the taxi when the vehicle crashed head-on into a Leyland Truck which was travelling to Linstead. The taxi was heading to Spanish Town.

“We are not sure how the crash happened, but it was apparent that the driver of the car was speeding,” a traffic cop at the accident scene told the Observer.

The six were identified as:

. Taxi driver Hubert Thomas, also called “Bammy Man Boy”, of Golden Road, Kingston;

. Aldice Johnson, 48, of Rose Hall, Linstead, St Catherine;

. Holness Benjamin, of Linstead, St Catherine;

. Marva McFarlane of Ewarton, St Catherine;

. Ann-Marie Graham, 39, of Cotton Piece, St Catherine; and her common-law husband,

. Michael Lewin, also of Cotton Piece.

The police said all six had to be cut from the wreckage by firemen and cops and were pronounced dead at the Linstead Hospital.

The injured passenger has been identified as Marion McLean, 47. McLean, who was also taken to the Linstead Hospital, was transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital where she was said to be in serious condition last night.

The driver of the truck, 64-year-old Askin Garvey, was treated at hospital and released. Garvey, apparently shaken, gave a blank stare while he was being interrogated at the Bog Walk station.

The bodies were gruesome to look at.

Thomas’ head was almost severed and was held attached to his body by a small piece of flesh at the back of the neck. Graham was almost unrecognisable. Her face was almost totally torn off.

“If you didn’t know her you could not recognise her,” a relative said.

The rest of the bodies lay on top of each other in a ghastly bundle.

At the accident scene, a load of calaloo, bammies and other goods were packed by the roadside: a grim reminder of the deadly incident which occurred there a few hours earlier.

“Calaloo dead, bammy dead and all the people dem dead,” an onlooker said.

A large crowd gathered at the Bog Walk police station to look at the damaged vehicles. Many were in shock at the mangled wreckage of the car and the smashed front fender of the truck, which told the tale of the extent of the collision.

In the ill-fated Corolla, blood, brain marrow, teeth and other small pieces of flesh were strewn about. The entire front of the car was damaged beyond repair. The seats were all broken and twisted. Calaloo, bammies and a slipper were strewn about the vehicle.

“No one could survive this crash,” one man said.

In the midst of the questions and grief, one man was busy trying to extract the radio from the crashed vehicle. His efforts came to nought after the appliance crumbled in his hand.

The death of Graham and Lewin have left eight children as orphans. Yesterday, the yard which they lived at Cotton Piece in Linstead was filled with mourning relatives and friends.

Graham was a higgler who sold bammies and calaloo at the Coronation Market in Kingston, while her spouse sold shoes in Kingston.

Their children ranged from age one to 23 years.

“She was a hard-working woman who tried very hard with her children,” Graham’s grieving mother, Euguene McCarthy, said, “She was my only daughter”.

One of Grahams’ sons, 6 year-old Trevaughn, said Thomas was known to drive very fast.

“Him drive at all 140 and 160,” the boy said.

Yesterday, the police again appealed to motorists who use the Bog Walk Gorge to drive with care and reduce their speed.

“We are urging all motorists to take care when they use the Bog Walk Gorge and reduce their speed for their own safety as well as that of their passengers,” one cop said.

– walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com