SPUR TREE, Manchester — Three people, including a pregnant woman, were hospitalised Wednesday following a two-vehicle accident on the Spur Tree Hill main road.
It was reported that about 4:00 pm the driver of a tractor trailer lost control of the heavy unit, while travelling downhill. The pregnant woman reportedly jumped from the out-of-control trailer before it collided with a motor car, which had been travelling in the opposite direction.
The collision resulted in both vehicles plunging over a precipice.
Two women and a man were injured in the accident.
A man, who asked not to be named, told the Jamaica Observer that he was among passers-by who rushed to the assistance of the injured people.
“The truck developed a fault coming down the hill and the driver told the passenger in the truck to jump out from way up… Me end up carry them go hospital. The lady that was driving the car was badly injured,” he said.
Another passer-by said the pregnant woman kept saying that she was concerned about her unborn child.
“The baby, the baby!” she shouted, he reported.
A source told the reporter that the tractor trailer, which was transporting sand, was stopped by police on the Winston Jones Highway (on the outskirts of Mandeville) minutes before the crash. The source said the police stopped the truck after two vehicles had been damaged by sand from the heavy unit.
The crash resulted in a pile-up of traffic as curious and concerned motorists stopped at the scene.
Meanwhile, a Toyota Hilux pickup was damaged after the vehicle fell into a drain when its driver attempted to stop at the crash scene. The pickup was later removed when a truck driver used his vehicle to pull it from the drain.
The crucial Spur Tree Hill main road links Mandeville and its environs to St Elizabeth and points west. Heavily laden, slow-moving trucks often hinder traffic on the steep, difficult hill, and there have been a number of tragic accidents involving trucks over the years.
