TASHEKA Swaby says her child’s father, Jason Miller, one of four men who were involved in a fiery motor vehicle crash on the PJ Patterson Highway in St Catherine on Monday, March 18, could have survived had he been flown overseas for treatment.

“He was in May Pen [Hospital] for a good period of time before he was transferred to Kingston Public Hospital. He was not in Intensive Care Unit and they had him on a ward until the night he died. I had the impression he would have been placed in ICU,” Swaby said.

“One morning we went there and he said we should bring him home, and we were telling him we can’t bring him home because he was sick bad. Him a seh a better we bring him home because inna di night when him a call out fi nurse, him nuh get nuh response. It is unfortunate that the hospital overseas rejected him. I think he would have lived had he received the care he was supposed to get,” Swaby said.

A construction worker, Miller, 25, who sustained severe burns to his body, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, while 49-year-old mason Joseph Cole, who was also travelling in the ill-fated motor vehicle, died on Sunday.

Swaby, who described Miller as being everything to her, said his death has put her in a “state of total confusion”.

“I turned into a total idiot; I didn’t know my head from my feet. They said the accident happened around after 7:00 am last week Monday. Four of them were in the vehicle. The driver got out of the vehicle with minor burns. My babyfather and the other two who got admitted in the hospital; one got burned in his face and the other one that died on Sunday received burns to his upper body. My babyfather’s entire body was burned like 85 per cent,” Swaby told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

Said Swaby: “He turned 25 on the 14th of March. We had lots of plans. We were planning to go ahead with the [construction of a] house first and and then start a business. He was even planning on going on a programme to go work overseas so he could set things for his son. I don’t even know what’s next for us now. I can’t say.”

Miller and the other men were heading to a construction site in Spanish Town, St Catherine, when they crashed on the high-speed highway.

According to a report from the police, about 7:30 am on the day of the crash the men were occupants of a red, 1992 Toyota Corolla motor car, travelling eastbound when, upon reaching the Bodles entrance of the highway, a motor vehicle entering the toll road drove into the path of the Corolla. The driver of the Corolla swerved to avoid a collision with the other vehicle, which resulted in him losing control of the motor car and slamming into the iron railing, after which the car burst into flames.

Up to March 22 there were 82 motor vehicle crashes which resulted in 93 fatalities. While 93 deaths is significant, the Road Safety Unit said that road fatalities, compared to the same period in 2023, decreased by eight per cent.