FAITH’S PEN, St Ann — A church trip meant for fun turned horrible late Friday night, as the bus in which they were travelling, plunged over a precipice in pitch black near the popular Faith’s Pen refreshment stop in St Ann, killing a teenaged girl and injuring 40 others.

The chartered Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) bus failed to negotiate a steep corner, flipped over three times and fell 30 feet to the bottom of the ravine shortly before nine, reports said.

Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry quickly ordered an investigation into the crash, alleging that the designated driver had given the bus over to another who had a poor driving record.

The dead girl was identified as Jodian Henry, 16, a student at the Bridgeport High School in Portmore, St Catherine. She was pronounced dead at the Linstead Hospital where several other injured passengers were taken for treatment.

Other passengers who sustained fractured bones or cuts and bruises to different parts of their bodies, were also transported to the St Ann’s Bay hospital. Many of them have since been released.

However, seven persons who were transferred to the Spanish Town hospital in St Catherine remained in serious, but stable condition at Sunday Observer press time.

The ill-fated bus was taking members of the Bayside New Testament Church in Portmore, to a retreat at the Moneague College in St Ann, when the accident occurred about four miles from their destination. It was one of four buses chartered for the annual trek.

Church officers said the other three buses had not yet left the base, but yesterday members used them to visit the injured brethren at the various hospitals to which they were taken.

Corporate Communication Manager at the JUTC, Reginald Allen told the Sunday Observer yesterday, that Henry had demanded a preliminary report which was to be presented to him by tomorrow.

Allen said the driver who was at the wheels had a record of bad-driving and was attending hearings in relation to the reported infractions.

“The designated driver wasn’t driving the bus at the time of the accident, another driver had apparently accompanied him to St Ann and we understand that it was that person who was driving,” Allen said.

“We will have to find out why the designated driver was not driving and the minister has asked that an investigation be done to ascertain what happened and why it happened,” he said.

The Moneague police said the bus driver reportedly left the scene after the accident, but later showed up at the Spanish Town Police station in St Catherine where he made a report.

“I am told that he went to the Spanish Town police station where he gave a statement, then left to seek medical care because he sustained a broken leg,” Constable Alecia Bromfield said.

Meanwhile, Michael Wynter, one of the persons who was on the ill-fated bus, said it was a miracle that there were no more casualties.

“It’s a miracle, only the grace of God why only one person died, based on how the bus overturned and flipped over like three times over the precipice,” said Wynter said who suffered minor injuries.

“For so many of us to come out alive, with only cuts and bruises God did something,” he said after receiving treatment at the St Ann’s Bay hospital.

He said the retreat is an event that church members look forward to each year and so everyone was excited on their way to St Ann.

“We were actually singing and praising and giving thanks to God on our way down and when the bus flipped, like the second time, that’s when I really realised that something was wrong.”

Wynter said although the accident victims and the church family were badly shaken by the incident, many of them were still eager to attend the retreat.

JUTC’s Allen, who along with several representatives of the company visited the accident scene and the hospitals Friday night, said the company was grateful for the overwhelming support it received from the fire department, police, JDF and residents.

“The JDF actually flew in a surgeon from Kingston to St Ann’s Bay last night, the support was just overwhelming, it was really heart warming,” he said.

Allen said extensive damage was done to the bus which is valued at $30 million, but added that it was not a total wreck. It took two heavy duty wreckers to pull the bus from the precipice.

In the meantime, the St Ann police are appealing to motorists to be careful while travelling along roads in the parish this holiday weekend.

At least eight persons including a pregnant woman were seriously injured in three other road crashes in the parish between Friday night and Saturday morning. Those accidents occurred along the Llandovery, Walkerswood and Chalky Hill roadways.