WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Residents of the Westland Mountain community in Negril, where two men died yesterday after coming in contact with a power line, are saying it was clear that the wires posed a danger and they had reported the situation to the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) on a number of occasions.

This is according to People’s National Party (PNP) Shadow Minister of Tourism and Member of Parliament for Western Westmoreland, Dr Wykeham McNeill, who this evening expressed deep sorrow at the death of Oshane Powell and his cousin, Renaldo Johnson.

Reports are that the incident occurred shortly after 11:30 am yesterday as Johnson was riding his motorcycle along the West End main road, with Powell as a pillion rider, when a power line fell on the bike.

Residents today mounted protests in the area to express anger over the incident.

McNeill is calling on the power company to urgently attend to whatever repairs may be necessary to restore electricity to the area as the outage is making the situation worse.

He is also calling for a full investigation of this very unfortunate matter and ask that the JPS address the concerns of the residents so that justice is served.

The death of the two young men is beyond unfortunate and have left their community and the entire constituency in shock and sorrow, he said.

“I urge the JPS to do its investigation and do what is good and proper under the circumstances.” McNeil said.

Earlier this afternoon, JPS had issued a statement informing that the company was working with members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force as they seek to bring calm to the area, as well as access to the community.

The power company also said its teams were on standby to restore electricity and to continue the investigation into the matter as soon as access is available.