Four more bodies found
POLICE yesterday found the bodies of a man and a woman believed to be from the family that went missing after angry flood waters associated with Tropical Storm Nicole pulled their house into a gully in Sandy Park, St Andrew early Wednesday morning.
The body of a child was also found near Kingston Harbour, while that of a Westmoreland farmer was found floating in his district yesterday morning.
Cops did not confirm the identities of the man and woman, but relatives identified them as George William Bailey, 42 and his common law wife Skeeta Young. The couple and three of their four children were feared dead after the tragedy. The body of their 14-year-old son Keniji Boyd was found in the rubble of the house Wednesday morning.
Yesterday, a policeman said “the bodies were seen floating in a swamp that runs behind the Seaview Gardens community”.
“The search is still on for the others,” Bailey’s brother said yesterday, before news came in the afternoon that the body of a little girl was found near Kingston Harbour.
“It was discovered sometime after 1:00 this (yesterday) afternoon by workers at the berth and they called us to verify,” a cop at the Marine Police told the Observer.
Police up to late yesterday had not identified the dead child, but residents of Sandy Park suspect it might be that of one of the three children from their community.
“Yeah man, is the little girl them find, is she. The family is down there and they just call me to say that they found her,” said a man claiming to be a family friend.
The find left scores of relatives and friends grieving.
“Jah know, star, look how the water do the people them star,” said one man who was among the dozens of curious onlookers at the swamp.
Residents of Sandy Avenue say that about 4:00 am Wednesday they heard screams from members of the family as their house crashed into the gully during heavy rains.
Tropical Storm Nicole dumped heavy rains on the island, taking lives and destroying infrastructure, property and crops.
Other fatalities attributed to Nicole are:
* Lenford Blake, a 73-year-old farmer who lived in St Elizabeth and who was swept away as he tried to cross a flooded road in Flagaman in the parish Tuesday night;
* Tashanna Wallace, 5, who was crushed to death in Portmore after a tree fell on the house in which she slept Wednesday night;
* Anthony Pernell, Denzel Malcolm and Rayan Malcolm, who died when a retaining wall collapsed and fell on a shed in which they slept in Norbrook, St Andrew Wednesday night; and
* Rupert Wright, a 68-year-old farmer of Piper’s Corner, Westmoreland. His body was found yesterday morning floating in flood waters on the main road in his district.