MONTEGO BAY, St James – Four police officers and eight visitors to the island were yesterday hospitalised following an accident along the hip strip in this resort town, involving four vehicles – two police cars, a Toyota Hiace mini-bus and an Isuzu truck.

Corporal Peter Salkey, the Constabulary Communication Network’s officer for the parish, said that at about 2:45 pm two police vehicles, one marked and the other unmarked, were involved in a collision with a JUTA mini-bus and an Isuzu truck.

Corporal Salkey told the Observer that both police vehicles were heading towards Montego Bay, the mini-bus was travelling in the opposite direction, with the truck travelling behind it when the accident occurred.

But according to one man who claimed to be an eyewitness, three police vehicles were travelling in a line towards Montego Bay when the one at the front suddenly braked up. The man claimed that the police car following closely behind swerved to avoid hitting the car in front and consequently slammed into the mini-bus travelling in the opposite direction.

The Isuzu truck travelling behind the mini-bus could not avoid ramming into its back, claimed the eye witness.

The four-vehicle crash created a huge build-up of late afternoon traffic in the resort city.