UPDATE: Eight remain in hospital following two-vehicle crash in Hanover
HANOVER, Jamaica – Two of the persons in a tour bus and truck that were involved in a two vehicle collision on the Orange Bay main road in Hanover Saturday afternoon were trapped and had to be extricated from the wreckage by firefighters.
A total of eight people, six of whom are tourists, were rushed to hospital with severe injuries.
District Officer attached to the Negril Fire Station, Otis Brown, told the Observer Online at the scene of the accident that some of the injured persons were unresponsive while one of the visitors in the Toyota Hiace minibus bus was trapped. A passenger from the truck was also seriously injured.
Brown said the driver of the bus and a passenger of his were transported to a hospital before the emergency crews arrived at the scene. He said the Negril EMS ambulance arrived at the scene before the firefighters.
“When we got here they had one in the ambulance. There were four others here, so we attended to the four others in the bus. One was unresponsive and the others could move and speak but they seemed to have severe injuries,” Brown said.
He added that “We immediately extricated the young lady that was sitting behind the passenger seat because she was trapped”.
The driver of the truck was also seen assisting his passenger who was reportedly in and out of consciousness.
“There were two persons in the truck, the driver was OK. He was out of the truck and trying to assist his friend that was trapped,” stated district officer Brown, who added “when we got here, he was there talking to him and reassuring him to stay awake because he was in and out of consciousness.”
The driver of the truck later received a medical checkup at the Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover. All eight accident victims remain in hospital.
The tourists were travelling from the direction of St James towards Negril and the truck was going in the opposite direction. It is not clear how the collision happened.
Two ambulances from the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) department from the Negril and Savanna-la-Mar Fire Stations responded to the call which was received at 3:25 pm. Two fire trucks – one from Lucea and the other from Negril also responded.
