THE Ministry of Labour and Social Security said yesterday that as soon as initial police investigations are completed, the bodies of two Jamaicans killed in a motor vehicle accident in Canada on Tuesday night will be flown home to their families without cost to them.

“The bodies will be flown home in a casket ready for burial at no cost to the families,” Barrington Bailey, the ministry’s senior director of manpower services said yesterday.

Bailey added that the minister, Horace Dalley, has been in touch with the families and that the ministry will be providing counselling and other support services for relatives.

William Bell, 54, of Sandy Rivery, Kellits, Clarendon and Desmond McNeil, 45, of Lennox Big Woods, Westmoreland died after three Jamaican farm workers riding home to the Sung Dee farm in Simcoe, Toronto were hit off their bicycles by a motorcar from behind. They were returning from a function at the Simcoe Town Centre.

It could not be ascertained whether the two died on the spot or in hospital. The third farm worker, Frederick Smith of Tickey Tickey, Coleyville, Manchester has been hospitalised in a serious condition. The accident happened at about 10.30 pm Tuesday, the ministry said yesterday.

Bell was on his sixth tour of duty on the programme, while McNeill was a first timer on the seasonal programme, under which Jamaican labourers work in Canada primarily engaged in the reaping of fruits and vegetables on Canadian farms.

The ministry said that its Toronto-based chief liaison officer for the programme, John Wright, was overseeing the matter on behalf of the Jamaican government with a view to determining liability and compensation for the victims families. The Simcoe police are conducting investigations.