Two Holmwood Technical High School students break down in tears in the arms of a total stranger after the accident involving schoolmates in Mandeville, Manchester, yesterday. - Photo by Garry Hamilton

It was a gloomy day yesterday for students at the Holmwood Technical High School in Manchester after a ninth-grade student, Shaneka Clarke, was killed and 13 others injured, when the minibus in which they were travelling collided with a truck on the New Green main road.

This brings to at least 136 the number of people to have been killed in motor vehicle crashes since the start of the year.

A police spokesperson said four students were admitted to hospital in serious condition while the others were treated and released.

A man who claimed to have been a short distance away when the crash occurred told The Gleaner that a Ford truck laden with hardware material was heading towards Mandeville when a taxi stopped in front of it.

Trying to avoid collision

The truck driver then reportedly pulled to the right to avoid hitting the taxi.

The witness said the truck then collided with the minibus, which was heading from Mandeville.

The driver of the minibus lost control of the vehicle, which then skidded and overturned.

A student of Holmwood Technical High, Darren Pryce, said he attempted to board the bus but was dissuaded by fellow students who said they did not know the driver.

Another student, Samantha Stewart, said she, too, refused to board the bus, as she was concerned that it was overloaded.

Paul Bailey, principal of the institution, told The Gleaner that the school community was "depressed and devastated".

Classes suspended

He noted regular classes were suspended and guidance counsellors from several schools in Christiana and its environs helped in counselling the students. The counselling sessions will continue today.

Several concerned parents and students huddled at the Mandeville Regional Hospital to get information on the injured students.

Vice-principal of Holmwood Technical, Edward Hector, said the accident highlights the need for adequate transportation for schoolchildren to prevent them from using any available vehicle.

Meanwhile, a seven-year-old boy was killed and four other persons injured in a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of Sea Breeze Avenue and Michael Manley Boulevard, Kingston, Tuesday morning.

Dead is Mikhai Speid while injured are Dorma Speid, 39, and three children aged four, seven and nine, all of Wicky Wacky, Bull Bay, addresses.