SEVERAL residents of Point Hill, St Catherine tried hard yesterday to contain their sorrows as they mourned the deaths of four community members who were killed Tuesday night in a nasty road accident along the Guanabovale main road.

Yesterday morning pieces of black cloth were nailed to utility poles in sections of the quiet hilltop community as residents remembered the four – Inez Cameron, 67; Lorraine Thomas, 38; Collena Whyte, 24; and 16-year-old Shashay Wilson, a student of the Dinthill Technical High School.

Anna-Kay Duncan, 17; Anika Taylor, 21; and Tarrant Hamilton, 23, who were injured in the road accident, described by some Point Hill residents as ‘one of the worst tragedies to affect the community’, were still in hospital up to last night.

The three women and a schoolgirl were among eight passengers in an overcrowded taxi that was travelling from Spanish Town towards Point Hill, when it was hit by a pickup truck that was travelling in the opposite direction.

According to the police, the pickup that was being driven by Troy Whyte, 25, allegedly overtook a Nissan mini bus being driven by Lloyd Hyman, then hit the Toyota Corolla taxi that was being driven by Orlando Stennet.

Stennet, who was left unconscious, along with the drivers of the two other vehicles were also hospitalised.

The accident was the only thing on the lips of the many well-wishers and friends gathered at the homes of the deceased to mourn with relatives.

Cameron’s daughter, Patsy, could hardly hold back the tears as she recalled one of her last conversations with her mother.

“Is yesterday morning we were talking about the accident (on the toll road Monday) and she said even if that driver didn’t die ‘it will still be as if he is dead’ as he will have to live knowing he was responsible for all those deaths,” she said.

Hours later, Patsy said, her mother left home for her regular trip to the Spanish Town market. That was the last time she saw her alive.

Cameron’s 18-year-old grandson Owayne Grey could not control his grief as he wept openly yesterday. His mother said he had resorted to drinking alcohol, something he was not accustomed to doing.

The young man, despite attempts to restrain him, left the family home and made his way to a nearby river. Some of Cameron’s children were further devastated to know their mother was among the mangled wreckage they had driven past that night. But they said that by the time they returned to the accident scene she was already taken to the hospital.

“She was still alive because a hear she was saying ‘help me because me no dead’. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

At the home of 16-year-old Shashay Wilson’s, her aunt and her grandmother were a picture of grief.

The child’s aunt, Desmaria Douglas, told the Observer that she was the last one to speak with her niece who had called to say she was on her way home. “She say, “Auntie me soon come” and that was the last thing she said to me.”

The Dinthill student who recently started work experience at Tastee in Portmore, was described as a “sweet person”.

Wilson’s aunt said she did not die on the spot as there were reports that she was heard begging the doctors to save her life while at the hospital.

The story was similar at the home of 38-year-old Lorraine Thomas. Her two children Romario West, a 13-year-old student of Jose Marti High School, and Dakisha Hamil, 16, a student of Old Harbour High School, cried uncontrollably.

“Them not dealing with it well and them no sleep from last night,” said Thomas’ cousin.

She told the Observer that Thomas, who was on her way home from visiting her grandmother in the hospital, died on the spot.