Caribbean news. At least seven people, mainly students, have been confirmed dead after a minibus carrying passengers, plunged into the sea in the northwestern section of St. Vincent on Monday morning.
It is reported that five bodies have been recovered from the sea. One person died in hospital and another died while on the way to receive medical treatment.
Circumstances leading to the deadly accident are unknown and it is still unclear how many people were in the minibus.
A large crowd gathered at the site of the crash in an area call Rockgutter as emergency personnel worked through the day but efforts are being affected by rough seas.
Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, said the entire nation is struck by what he described as a “tragedy of national proportion.”
“We all grieve and ask God for guidance and strength as well as we lean on one another,” he said on national radio. “Some of the questions you have are not fully answered, that will come in due time. Right now it is the task of making sure that everyone is accounted for. We cannot yet give up hope because there is hope we can find additional survivors. As inhospitable as the conditions are, we have to hope…and we have to put the pieces back together and to see what we can do to try to ensure that this tragedy does not happen again.”
In light of the accident, Gonsalves has postponed his budget presentation that was scheduled to take place on Monday. Article courtesy http://dominicanewsonline.com.
