MONTPELIER, St James – A five-vehicle collision along the Montpelier main road in St James yesterday morning left one woman dead and five members of her family nursing injuries in the Cornwall Regional Hospital.

The dead woman, who was trapped in the mangled remains of the car for nearly two hours before firefighters were able to remove her, was identified as Coteisha Gayle, a 32-year-old port security worker from Bethel Town, Westmoreland.

The injured included her common-law husband Andy Birch, a sergeant with the Area One Police Headquarters; Aneisha Birch, 6, Andesha Birch, 11, – daughters – and niece Thiona James, 10. Aneisha was taken to the Bustamante Children’s Hospital for treatment.

Sgt Birch and the children – students of the Anchovy Primary and Corinaldi Preparatory schools – were passengers of a Toyota Corolla motor car driven by the deceased.

According to Corporal Peter Salkey, liaison officer for St James, the accident occurred about 7:15 am when a green Honda motor car travelling towards Hanover failed to properly negotiate a corner and ended up on the other side of the road.

The out-of-control Honda motor car, the police said, first slammed into the side of a Nissan Serena minivan before it slammed head-on with the Toyota Corolla station wagon motor car, which was travelling behind the minivan.

The impact of the collision caused the Honda motor car to flip repeatedly, resulting in its engine falling out and rolling into the path of another vehicle which was travelling behind it.

“I was approaching Bethel Town and the green Honda car was in front of me. All of a sudden I saw that it had developed speed and gone. When I looked down the corner I noticed it developed a slide. When I came around the corner I realised that it already collided with a minivan and a Corolla motor car. As I drew nearer the engine fell out the car and slammed into my car,” a driver of one of the ill-fated vehicles told the Observer.

The crash caused a huge pile-up of traffic for more that two hours, while a throng of onlookers flocked to the accident scene where blood, small pieces of metal, grease and splintered glass littered the road.

Gayle’s death brings to eight, the number of persons who have died as a result of motor vehicle accidents in the parish of St James since the start of the year, one less than the comparative period last year.