A section of Port Henderson Road in Portmore, St Catherine, was closed off for hours yesterday after a truck carrying fuel slammed into a parked Hiace bus and overturned, spilling thousands of litres of oil along the roadway and into the sea.

It was still unclear up to press time last night what caused the crash, but residents reported that about 7:30 am the truck, which was transporting fuel for the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, was travelling along the busy thoroughfare when it might have got out of control.

“I just opened my door and come out to the front when all of a sudden I saw this trailer coming at a high speed; when me see what was happening I tried to go across the road,” said Orane McKoy, a 35-year-old fisherman.

“While the truck was speeding down the road me see the back start to wrap around to the front and from me see that me know it was going to crash,” said McKoy

He said he managed to run to safety as the truck later slammed into a bus that was parked along the roadside.

Yesterday, Richard Lindo, the 69-year-old owner of the bus, said he was inside his shop, which is located close to the road, when he heard a loud explosion.

“When I came out to look I could not believe what I saw,” said the obviously distraught shop operator who placed his hand on his head as he looked at the mangled remains of his vehicle.

He was, however, happy that no life was lost.

“If this incident had happened on any other day it would have claimed the lives of large groups of persons,” said Lindo. He said where the bus was parked has been a popular spot where fishermen hang out in the days.

Following the accident, several people were seen rushing from their homes to the damaged trailer to collect gas oil that spilled out of the tanker.

“Right now a waste this going waste so is better we just store and collect all that we can,” said one fisherman who was seen leaving the scene of the accident with a bucket filled with petrol.

In the meantime, the National Environmental and Planning Agency started investigations to determine the volume of the oil which ran into the sea.

Personnel from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the police were on hand as the Fire Brigade cleaned up the oil spill so the road could be reopened to vehicular traffic.