FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Up to yesterday the public transportation sector was still mourning the loss of four members among five people killed in last week’s tragic Trelawny crash, including Simone “Sim Sim” Minott who ironically chaired an outreach committee for deceased operators, before her own demise.

The son of an operator, who was also on the ill-fated vehicle but escaped with minor injuries, rounded off the five who perished in last Sunday’s horrific early morning crash on the Salt Marsh, Trelawny, roadway.

The deceased include Minnott’s partner, 42-year-old Dwayne Campbell; 22-year-old Akeem Roberts; Quanardo Owens; and Horace Tulloch, all of St Catherine addresses.

Up to Friday, one of the seven who sustained physical injuries and were hospitalised, remained in hospital.

Director of communication of the All Voice Route Taxi Association Lorraine Finnikin and president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS) Egerton Newman, who both visited the crash site late last week where they laid flowers and observed a moment of silence, described the incident as the most mournful recorded in the sector in modern history.

“Over the last four years we have been losing operators in accidents and by the gun. But I can tell you clearly, it is the first we had of the loss of lives of owners and operators in the sector that have the sector mourning the way it has been,” bemoaned a distraught Finnikin.

“Some of our operators have been brutally murdered over the last five years: [In] 2023 we had up to 69 operators that were murdered but we have never had the level of mourning that we are having [now]. So far, from all indications, four of the deceased are owners and operators, and the other one is the son of a owner and operator,” he added.

Newman concurred that the crash is one of the worst tragedies to beset the sector.

“Since [last] Sunday it has been a mournful occasion for us here in the public transport sector, and that is why we travelled all the way from Kingston to come to the very spot where our colleagues have left us, “ Newman said.

From left: Director of communication of the All Voice Route Taxi Association, Lorraine Finnikin; president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), Egerton Newman; and DSP Joseph Foster, last week observe a moment of silence at the site of a crash that claimed the lives of five people in Salt Marsh, Trelawny, on Sunday, July 6. (Horace Hines)

He argued that the tragedy was compounded by the loss of Minott who had been a tower of strength in the sector, particularly in the area of social welfare.

“Right behind us is the spot where Sim Sim met her demise. We are sad; and because of her position, as President Fennikin told you, because of her position in the transport sector as a person who was in charge of the social welfare of operators we could not hold back but [had] to be here and to ensure that her position remains intact, because many of our operators perish without support for their family,” Newman added.

Finnikin said Minott “has been a stalwart in the sector”.

“I must tell you that in 2022 we set up an outreach committee, based on the number of deaths of our operators, and when you check, they were the breadwinners of the family. So, we set up this outreach committee and she was the chairperson for it,” he explained.

“And when there’s a need, even when the operators don’t contribute, Simone would go into her personal funds and donate to families of [the] deceased. I remember on one occasion an entire family was burnt out in east Kingston. When I called her she said, ‘Mr Finnikin, I can’t come to Kingston; meet me in Spanish Town’ — that’s where she lived and worked. When I got there, there were several bags of groceries, several bags of children’s clothes and shoes. So we have missed a stalwart, a committed member of the public transportation sector, and that is one of the reason why it is so mournful to us,” he added.

Mayor of Falmouth, Councillor C Junior Gager, who expressed condolence to family members, friends and colleagues of the deceased, used the occasion to urge motorists to desist from speeding on the roadways.

According to the police, about 2:30 am on Sunday, July 6, a Toyota Hiace with mostly public transportation stakeholders was en route to Hanover for a colleague’s all-white birthday party when, upon reaching a section of Salt Marsh, the vehicle veered across the road and flipped for about 50 metres, downing palm trees until it crashed into a concrete utility pole — the impact sending some of the occupants flying from the vehicle.

Simone “Sim Sim” Minott (Horace Hines)