NEGRIL, Westmoreland – Workers at Sandals Negril were in mourning yesterday following the death of two colleagues from the water sports department who died in a motor vehicle collision here Thursday night.

The dead men have been identified as 45-year-old dive manager Newton “Banker” Vickers, of Rock, Trelawny, and 30-year-old water sports operator Steve “Scuba Steve” Lynch, of Haughton Court, Hanover.

The two Sandals employees died after the grey 1991 Nissan Pulsar, driven by Vickers, and which Lynch was his passenger, collided head on with a 1998 Toyota Coaster driven by Cebert Brown, a 54-year-old JUTA operator.

“Everybody is in shock especially their (Vickers and Lynch) co-workers. But we are rallying around each other and giving support to the families. It is very difficult,” colleague Wayne Cummings told the Observer in a telephone interview yesterday.

According to the police, the accident occurred at about 7:20 pm along the Norman Manley Boulevard in the vicinity of the RIU Hotel, when the Nissan driver overtook two cars and collided with the bus.