Lucky escape - Cabbie narrowly misses being slammed by landslide

Had Lloyd Lattibeaudiere driven off 10 seconds earlier yesterday, he would have been buried under the rubble of a massive landslide in Melbrook Heights.

When THE STAR visited Harbour View yesterday, Lattibeaudiere was among a group of men sitting inside a bar having a drink. He took a strong puff on his cigarette and appeared still very shaken from the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that rocked the nation as well as other sections of the Caribbean and US. The cab driver, who plies the Harbour View to downtown Kingston route, said he had got his first trip for the day when his vehicle started swaying vigorously.

"Mi take the work and a come down and mi just feel the car a shake up and down. Mi say it feel strong and the car just a vibrate like it deh pon string. Mi car feel like it ago drop down inna hole," Lattibeaudiere said.

Dashing out of his Toyota Probox motor car, he jumped over the rubble that had blocked the roadway. Minutes later, he said he sat in disbelief and looked at the massive boulders that would have crushed him and the vehicle.

"Mi say mi nah move and mi frighten. Mi park up and just watch the hillside a come right down, it was unbelievable. When mi come out the car and a walk, mi just know say a just God make mi never move off earlier, because all of it would a drop on mi and the passenger. We would be buried," he said.

With his vehicle marooned inside the community, Lattibeaudiere said that all he can do is wait anxiously until the roadway is cleared to get back on his route. He said the natural disaster will put a huge dent in his pocket but he is more appreciative that he was not a casualty.

"Honestly, mi just a gwan sleep because mi don't know what else to do, because mi can't do nutten more. Mi car stuck up deh and probably it gonna be there for the rest of the week depending on how fast dem can clear the blockage. Right now, mi lose at least $20,000 for the day but mi grateful fi life. Mi or the passenger never get damage and the hillside never drop on anybody," he said.