CASTRIES – A grim scene of bodies strewn across a narrow, rocky beach was what fire and police officials met on Thursday night when they rushed to the place where a minibus landed after plunging nearly 50 feet off a cliff.
The dead included an infant, a pregnant woman and the bus driver, 47-year-old Michael Alexander, who apparently missed a turn in the road, said Chief Fire Officer Lambert Charles.
A young girl who was found alive in the debris died en route to a hospital, Charles reported.
Seventeen people died and others were injured. The death toll may rise.
The tragedy in Mount Sion, Choiseul, was St Lucia’s worst vehicular accident.
The news plunged the small district of Fond-Lor, within the community of Dugard in the village of Micoud on the island’s east coast, into sadness, Police Corporal Trevor Constantine told The Associated Press. All the dead were from that area.
Fond-Lor is a poor but tight-knit community of about 350 residents that once had a thriving banana industry. Hundreds of residents sang hymns and held a nocturnal vigil, clutching 17 candles in memory of those killed, Minister of Education Arsene Vigil James told AP in a telephone interview.
“They know each other, so any calamity within that community, all the people there would feel a sense of sadness,” he commented. “It was a very grave accident, one that we have not heard of in the history of transportation of St Lucia.”
James, a legislator who represents Micoud South, said he visited Fond-Lor early yesterday and spoke at a primary school that lost three students in the accident. Psychologists met with students before the school closed early, like others in the region.
Yesterday, as the full magnitude of the accident unfolded Prime Minister Stephenson King addressed the nation.
“This is probably the single most (deadly) vehicular accident or tragedy ever suffered by St Lucia, to the extent that not even (Hurricane) Tomas took as many lives at a single moment,” he said.
King noted that the Cabinet would decide on the “best way” that the nation could share with the families the loss of their loved ones.
“This weekend should be considered a weekend for mourning and observance of those who lost their lives,” King told reporters.
Opposition Leader Dr Kenny Anthony said that he had spoken to a man who had lost his wife and three children in the accident.
“He was devastated. I could not console him. I guess we can all understand why it was so difficult to offer him the comfort that he needs at this time,” Anthony said.
St Lucia’s Foreign Minister Rufus Bousquet, who represents Choiseul in Parliament, described the accident as “a human tragedy of unprecedented proportions”.
Lorena William, a 55-year-old resident of Dugard, said in a phone interview with AP that her cousin was among the fatalities. She said the driver’s three children and his girlfriend were aboard the bus, along with a family of five and twin boys.
“All the people were very close neighbours,” she said. “I know everybody.”
Home Affairs Minister Guy Mayers broke the news of the tragedy during a public meeting Thursday night in the eastern village of Dennery. He asked for a minute of silence.
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) chairman Dr Denzil Douglas yesterday extended “sincere condolences” to the people of St Lucia over the tragedy.
“It is my fervent hope that your nation and, indeed, family and friends of the injured, the deceased do not mourn like those without hope, but instead rely on their resilience to rise above their current distress,” he said. (AP/CMC/SP)