MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Minister of Education Fayval Williams says she is not only saddened but also angry following the deaths of two Titchfield High School boys in a crash in Portland on Tuesday.

“These two deaths could have been prevented… it is senseless,” she said.

“It appears from all that is written and said that the driver was [travelling] excessively fast and this is what happens on our streets when we don’t [follow] the speed limit and obey the rules of the road. Two students are dead now, and because of that families are mourning, grieving. We have lost two Jamaican citizens, who were in the prime of their lives” Williams told journalists during a visit in Williamsfield, Manchester on Wednesday morning.

Reports are that about 4:00 pm, the grade nine students – Jajaun Wynter and Onaja Lindsay  – were among passengers aboard a Toyota Picnic motorcar travelling westerly towards Buff Bay when the vehicle crashed into a parked truck.

Minister Williams says greater caution should be taken when travelling on the nation’s roads.

“We want to appeal to all on our streets to slow down, be careful, obey the rules of the road. They are there for our own protection. I don’t know why people can’t get that in their heads,” she said.

— Kasey Williams