River trip detours into gully - Bus crashes before reaching destination, more than 30 injured

A Coaster bus loaded with spirited passengers en route to a river did not reach its intended destination after the vehicle ended up over a precipice in the vicinity of Brandon Hill, St Andrew, resulting in several persons being injured.

Information reaching THE STAR is that most of the 39 passengers had to be rescued and then rushed to hospital.

Our news team understands that the trip from Trench Town, Kingston, to Castleton, St Mary, took a turn for the worst after the driver, who was about a mile away from his destination, hit an embankment and lost control of the vehicle.

"Him lick inna the embankment deh so, and shoot across over the precipice. Two people had to be rushed [to the hospital] immediately and then the rest of injured passengers," an eyewitness said.

TOTAL CHAOS

THE STAR gathered that firefighters from the Stony Hill Fire Department were summoned, and they assisted in cutting several passengers, including the 58-year-old driver, from the wreckage.

The police confirmed that there were 39 passengers on board at the time of the accident.

One of the first responders told our news team that: "When I got to the area, both the driver and the conductor were on the ground and could not move. It was total chaos. People were screaming for help."

The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. and caused a huge pile-up of traffic along the usually busy corridor which connects St Andrew and St Mary.

An officer, who spoke to our news team at the scene, said that a wrecker had to be called in to retrieve the bus from the bushes and back on to the main road.

THE STAR was told that most of the passengers are from Denham Town and Trench Town in Kingston.

Up to press time, there was no mention of any fatalities.

The police are investigating.