PORT ANTONIO, Portland — Grief counsellors, who have become an all-too-familiar-sight at Titchfield High, were back at the school Monday morning consoling students as they grieved for 18-year-old Vijay Popley. The teen is believed to have drowned a day earlier at Errol Flynn Marina’s Bikini Beach, which is less than a mile from the school.

The upper sixth former is the school’s fourth student to die in tragic circumstances since 2019. The other deaths resulted from motor vehicle mishaps.

Popley was a track and field athlete, representing Titchfield in the 400 metres at Eastern Championships earlier this year, so he was well known. On Monday students and teachers wept openly, and counsellors dispatched by the education ministry used hushed tones to tell them not to blame themselves, and to “cry if you need to cry”.

Elecia Bailey-Hamilton, who has a child attending the school, was among those jolted by Popley’s death when word spread through their community Sunday.

“I felt like I lost a child. I know him like I know my own child. It has taken a toll on me, and it is sad. Coming in this morning and hearing other children talk about him, it has been rough. I have lost a child, Titchfield has lost a child, and the entire Portland has lost a child,” she said mournfully.

A vendor and worker at the school. who identified herself as Miss Lisa, told the Jamaica Observer that Popley had been a regular customer. He was kind, humble and loving, she said. His death has left her with questions that go to the heart of her faith.

“You want to ask the Lord, ‘Why?’ when you have nice children like these. He has a very positive impact on students, but it is just one of the things we have to live with. Some have to go, and we have to live with the pain. It is so sad, and no one wants to know that the school where you work… incidents like this happen. It is sad that this happened, and it is only God we can ask why this has happened and wait for His answer,” added a philosophical Miss Lisa.

— Everard Owen

Vijay Popley, who is believed to have drowned on Sunday, was a track and field athlete, representing Titchfield High School in the 400 metres at the Eastern Championships earlier this year.

Miss Lisa, a vendor and worker at Titchfield High School, is left wondering why the good die young.

Elecia Bailey-Hamilton, who has a child attending Titchfield High School, is among those jolted by Vijay Popley’s death.