Families grieve as two perish in St Ann crash

Two St Ann families have been left grieving after yet another motor vehicle crash along the dreaded Llandovery main road in the parish on Sunday took their loved ones.

The deceased are Kermit Grant, 38, bus driver of McKenzie district, Aboukir, and Elizabeth Palmer, otherwise called Jennifer, 56, of Mount Pleasant. Grant was the driver of a Toyota Hiace bus in which Palmer was a passenger, when a Toyota Coaster slammed head-on into it around 8:30 a.m. Grant's sister, Natalie Grant-Johnson, had few words to say to THE STAR when contacted, as she and other family members were still trying to come to terms with the tragedy. She said her brother, who would have celebrated his 39th birthday on August 1, died leaving two children.

"We're just hanging on in there," she said. "We believe in prayer, we believe that things happen, so we just have to keep the faith and be strong for each other. It's not a road that we want to go. We know it's a road we all have to go but sometimes when it comes that way, it's really tough."

Grant operated the bus on the Brown's Town to Ocho Rios route. He was heading towards Ocho Rios when the Coaster, which was heading in the opposite direction, reportedly tried overtaking another vehicle. The Coaster got out of control on the wet road and slammed head-on into the Hiace. Twenty-seven persons from both vehicles were rushed to the St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital. Grant and Palmer were pronounced dead there while the others were admitted. Three persons were scheduled for emergency surgery.

Family members of the injured rushed to the hospital upon hearing of the accident, with some remaining for several hours, hoping for the best. Dorrett Clarke had been Palmer's friend for more than 20 years. She too journeyed to the hospital when she heard that her friend had passed, all the while hoping that it was not so. She, too, was overcome with grief when death was confirmed. Several hours later she still was unable to say much to the news team.

"I don't think I have words enough to express what is happening right now," she said. Clarke said her friend was a family woman who worked hard to take care of her children.

"She was a very hard-working person, a mother who really look out for her children," Clarke said. "She worked very hard to make ends meet, not a lazy person, and she doesn't confine herself to just one job, whatever she can find that is honest to put food on her table, she'll do it."

Commander for the St Ann Police Division, Senior Superintendent Dwight Powell, in noting an increase in road traffic deaths in the parish since the start of the year, compared to 2021, urged motorists to exercise due care on the road.

Twenty-nine persons have died as a result of road traffic crashes since the start of 2022, compared to 17 over a similar period last year.