Samantha Hastings - Contributed

THREE MILES RIVER,

Westmoreland:

THE FAMILY of 15-year-old Samantha Hastings is in shock following her death in a three-vehicle collision along the Three Miles River main road last Thursday evening.

Samantha, a grade-10 student at Grange Hill High School, was en route to her Coke Street home in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, when tragedy struck.

"I couldn't believe when they say a Samantha dead because she was such a nice daughter," her mother, Vermay Thomas, told The Gleaner last Friday. "She only give the normal trouble what young people give like lazy and so on, but she was doing well in school."

Reports from the Frome police are that sometime after 7 p.m., three cars carrying students were heading in the direction of Savanna-la-Mar from Grange Hill. It is said that one of the cars - a white Toyota Probox was being driven by 26-year-old Karva Chambers of Georges Plain - was ahead of the other cars.

On reaching the Three Miles River area, a white Toyota Corolla driven by Trevor Williams, 24, also of Georges Plain, attempted to overtake the Probox.

lost control

He reportedly failed to properly overtake the Probox and collided into the side of it. A grey Toyota station wagon that was being driven by 21 year-old Sanchez Barron also collided with Williams. Both Barron and Williams lost control of their vehicles, which crashed into a concrete drain on the right side of the road.

The injured students were rushed to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital while Samantha sustained head injuries and died on the spot. Some students were treated and released while others were kept overnight for observation.

The police have identified speeding and careless overtaking as the main contributors of the collision.

condolences

Councillor for the Savanna-la-Mar division, Milton Miles, also visited Samantha's family to offer his condolences.

"We have to find a way to stop these taximen from filling up these cars with the schoolchildren," Councilor Miles said. "It reminds you of the middle passage when our foreparents were stuffed in ships like sardines."

His call was echoed by other concerned citizens who called for tougher policing to clamp down on the overloading of students in the taxis, especially along the Savanna-la-Mar to Grange Hill and the Savanna-la-Mar to Petersfield routes.