Sadness and disbelief as four die in market truck crash

Rosie, a vendor in the Coronation Market in Kingston, is now monitoring her blood pressure as she mourns the death of Donovan 'Kirk' Peart, one of four persons who died when the market truck in which they were travelling overturned on Pen Hill main road in Manchester early yesterday.

Peart, 40, of All Side district, was the driver of the Hyundai motor truck. The police said that on reaching a section of the roadway, Peart allegedly failed to negotiate a corner, lost control of the vehicle, overturned and collided with a concrete bus stop.

The crash also claimed the lives of Denisha Williams, 39-year-old cashier/higgler of Trelawny; Suzie Dunwell, 30-year-old higgler of Dobson district in Coleyville, Manchester; and Leilia Samuda Johnson, otherwise called 'Cutie', a higgler of Silent Hill, Moravia, in Clarendon.

There was one survivor.

News of the crash spread like wildfire yesterday. There was sadness and disbelief in the Coronation Market where the persons aboard the truck were headed.

UNBELIEVABLE

"Kirk come in like mi bredda, God know mi can't believe him dead. A long time him a come a market - from him a drive a small van," Rosie said.

"Right now mi can't believe because mi a look fi see him come in same way and come lay down on one a di stall dem and rest," she added.

Another vendor from All Side district - the same community as Peart - surmised that Tropical Storm Grace, which dumped several inches of rainfall on the island on Tuesday, may have contributed to the crash.

"Normally him would reach by midnight, but because the rain did a fall it look like him leave out late or it slow him up. Mi leave country from in the evening and take mi time come in. At about 3 o'clock (Wednesday morning), mi get a call say someone name Dave crash, and afterwards mi hear say a Kirk and him truck mash up," the vendor said.

"Mi can't believe all now," he said. "Kirk is a nice youth. A just di odda day mi and him deh here a run joke. Is a man who you can't vex with because all if him a cuss yuh, yuh just have to laugh. Mi can't believe there is no more Kirk."

Meanwhile, another vendor said she encountered two near-death experiences that have caused her to stop travelling to the rural areas to purchase products for sale.

The 43-year-old woman, who has been selling inside the market for the past 26 years, said the second incident happened on Mount Rosser.

"Oil dash wey pon di road and dem a throw dirt suh di trailer dem can come round. Mi take one a di trailer dem and it was the side man driving and him never know how to tackle one a di corner dem and straight over di gully him a go. Is di driver see what a gwan and take over di truck or else a straight over di bl********t gully we would a gone. From deh so mi nuh go back. Mi wait until di truck dem reach a town," she said.