Kendal crash victims to be honoured with monument

A monument honouring the 170 victims of the tragic Kendal Train Crash of 1957 will finally rise, as the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the Manchester Municipal Corporation inked a $7.9 million deal to make it a reality.

Minister Olivia Grange and Mayor of Mandeville, Donovan Mitchell, signed the memorandum of understanding, paving the way for the monument's unveiling on September 1, 2025 -- marking the 68th anniversary of one of the world's worst rail disasters.

"This is about never forgetting," Grange declared at the signing.

The monument will be the first step in a larger project which includes plans for a memorial park and a museum at the crash site.

Grange noted the horror of that night in 1957 when the unimaginable happened.

"The train, operated by the Jamaica Railway Corporation, was on its way from Montego Bay to Kingston when it separated from the tracks as it approached Kendal. None of that was expected... There were 170 dead and another thousand survivors trying to find their families or clambering to escape the mangled wreckage," the minister said.