By Alva Solomon and Vanessa Braithwaite

THREE persons died on Wednesday evening following a head-on collision between two Toyota Spacio motorcars on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.Dead is Dextroy Griffith, a 22-year old mechanic and 52-year-old taxi driver, David Primus; both men are said to be residents of Amelia’s Ward, Linden while a third person who was driving one of the two cars involved in the accident, died following the collision. He is said to be an employee of the BOSAI bauxite company; however he is yet to be identified. Those injured are Aleta Shepherd and Lerone Mendonca and another unidentified individual.

Reports are that Primus was driving a Toyota Spacio, bearing registration HC 5326 while the unidentified driver was behind the wheels of the other vehicle, registered PRR 7151, when the two collided.

According to reports from Linden, Primus was heading to the city along with Griffith, Griffith’s wife, Whitney and three other persons at the time. Griffith’s wife and the passengers are currently hospitalised at the Linden Hospital Complex and medical personnel reported that their conditions are stable.

Reports are that the highway was wet around 18:00hrs when the two vehicles collided in the vicinity of Camp Soweyo near the Loo Creek area. The two drivers were attempting to overtake two container log trucks, which were parked along the highway at the time of the collision.

A large crowd gathered at the scene and rescuers were forced to cut-open the two vehicles to extract the men’s bodies after which they were rushed to the Linden Hospital complex.

At the hospital, Griffith’s relatives were lost for words as news spread that the young man had died. According to reports, the father of two married his wife a year ago. The woman is said to be pregnant.

Police are investigating the accident.

Poorly lit trucks parked along the Linden/Soesdyke road have been cited over the years as one of the main contributing factors to accidents on the highway.
In October last, two persons died when a route 72 Mahdia minibus crashed into the back of a truck which was parked with several logs along the highway in the vicinity of Moblissa. Miner Royston Holder and Bridget Alleyne, 59, wife of the driver of the minibus died following the collision.

Following Wednesday evening’s accident, fresh calls were made for lights to be placed along the highway.