FIVE people died and 15 others were reportedly hospitalised up to press time on Wednesday following a catastrophic crash involving a public passenger bus on the PJ Patterson Highway in St Catherine.

Road safety advocate and vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council Dr Lucien Jones said among the dead were three males and two females.

“[Among] the injured is a two-year-old child,” Jones added.

Chief executive officer at Spanish Town Hospital Jacqueline Ellis told the Jamaica Observer that doctors and nurses quickly sprang to action to treat the victims.

“The hospital’s emergency response plan was activated to manage the influx of patients and the various teams worked together to provide care and treatment. Based on the information I received we [had] five deaths. We treated 15 patients,” said Ellis.

Dr Jones told journalists via an audio release on Wednesday that preliminary reports indicated that “a tyre blew out” on the vehicle.

“The question as to whether the vehicle was travelling at a high speed is to be the subject of an investigation… The minivan hit against a guardrail and flipped several times and that is why we had so many injuries. This is a terrible crash that is going to cause the nation to mourn even more now in the [aftermath] of [Hurricane] Melissa and it means that a total of 342 people have died [in crashes] this year,” said Jones.

Preliminary reports are that the crash happened about 3:00 pm in the eastbound lane a few hundred metres before the Vineyard toll booth.

Several people were reportedly flung from the bus during the crash, which involved a bus tagged as travelling the Mandeville to Kingston route. Police responded and transported the injured people to hospital. Firefighters and the Jamaica Fire Brigade’s Emergency Medical Services also responded to the crash.

Jones, who has long advocated for safety on the nation’s roads, again urged road users to be cautious as he expressed shock following Wednesday’s crash.

“Coming at a time when for a number of days we had no fatalities reported by the police, this is a sudden jolt and a reminder to all of us that we need to drive on the roads with extreme care and to slow down and to make sure that the vehicle in which we are driving and the drivers who are driving the vehicles ensure that we have safe vehicles. Ensure that people are buckled up and to ensure that there is no speeding on our roads, because all of these things can cause crashes and in this instance fatal crashes,” he said.

“The police are going to continue investigations to find out precisely what caused it [Wednesday’s crash], but this is a terrible tragedy on the road and a reminder to us that road safety has to be an absolute priority in the minds of the entire nation and the Government in particular,” he added.

He said drivers should be reminded of the penalties for breaches of the Road Traffic Act, including the suspension of their licences.

“We have to do everything possible to ensure that we have safe drivers by making sure that every aspect of the Road Traffic Act is rolled out, especially the demerit point system, so that people have a sense that if they break the law that they will be subject to fines and if you accumulate many points [this would] possibly affect your ability to drive on the roads, because your licence can be suspended,” he said.

Bags belonging to occupants of the Toyota Hiace minibus are placed near the guardrail after the crash on Wednesday. (Photo: Kasey Williams)

The front of the minibus involved in Wednesday’s crash on the PJ Patterson Highway in St Catherine, showing some of the damage. (Photo: Kasey Williams)