A primary school student is dead and another in hospital after an accident involving a minibus, HN113, just outside Lodge Village Government School around 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Head of the Traffic Branch, Superintendent of Police Kenneth John, told I-Witness News that the dead child is 9-year-old Kunjah Browne of Redemption Sharpes.
Browne, along with the injured child, who has been identified as Neeka Clifton, was a student of the Lodge Village Government School.
There were reports at the scene that the injured child, who was rushed to Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, had died.
But John told I-Witness News around 6 p.m. That police officers dispatched to the healthcare facility had provided no such reports.
He identified the driver of the minibus as Richard Barboo, 29, of Fountain, but declined to comments on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
I-Witness’s News understands that Browne was seated in the back left side of the minibus when the accident occurred.
We were told that his head hit against a utility pole to the left of the road as the van was travelling in the direction of Redemption Sharpes.
The minibus ran over Clifton during the accident.
Browne’s father, Garnet Browne, of Redemption Sharpes, is said to have beaten the bus driver at the scene before the grieving father was led away by police.
The dead child’s mother, Desra Robinson, of Sion hill, had to be assisted by a doctor at the scene after she fainted.
Bardoo’s mother wailed at she arrived at the scene and realised that the van involved in the incident was, in fact, the one that her son drives.
The incident again raises the issue of the safety of the nation’s students and other persons while using public transportation.
Monday’s accident comes days after the conclusion of a coroner’s inquest into the death of seven students at Rock Gutter on Jan. 12.
The students died when a minibus in which they were travelling careened downhill and plunged into the sea.
Lord help us! what exactly could have caused this accident?! i am puzzled right now!
What a horrible tragedy. Condolences to ALL the persons involved. Hope the students of the school receive counselling.
Everybody will want to blame the driver (who I know is responsible for the safety of his passengers) and say he was driving recklessly but the driver did not crash into the pole and even though I was not there I am sure he didn’t ask the boy to stick his head out of the window. There are two ‘sleeping policemen’ near to that pedestrian crossing so I can’t imagine the driver was going fast. It is a pity the conductor didn’t notice the child with his head out the window […].
While I can only imagine his grief, the dead child’s father should beat HIMSELF (not the driver) for not teaching his child to keep his head and arms in a vehicle at all times. The child was NINE- he not in Kindergarten. If the parents felt he was old enough to catch a van by himself, they had a right to teach him how to travel in one.
There is a lot of blame to go around in this one but most of it will unfortunately end up in one place.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the injured child who most likely got run over when all the confusion erupted in the van after the passengers realized the boy was dead.
Babysah, you want somebody bust a hard slap on you…are you really laying blame on a 9 year old?…let us go with your notion that the driver wasn’t speeding… The fact that he hit a kid on the road, that is reckless; the fact that a kid died while riding in this van, is a total disregard to the safety of his passengers.
Babysah, did you follow everything your parents told you to do when you were 9 years old?….Babysah, look outside right now, yeah that is me across the road with a bulwood in me hand waiting for you… Lol.
Ohhhhhhh, is that you? Lord, leave the bull alone let it get some rest, nah. 🙂
Seriously though, as I said “There is a lot of blame to go around in this one…” I blame:
1. the driver – for not taking extra care in that area knowing how children love to pour out the school gate
2. the conductor – for not keeping a better eye on the passengers while the driver’s eyes were on the road (he’s not there just to collect money and pack the van)
3. the 9 year old for not keeping his head in the vehicle. (SVG law states that once a child reaches 8 years old he/she can be charged for murder because he/she is old enough to know right from wrong so “YES” TeacherFang, in my opinion, he should have known better than to hang his head out the window and some of the blame lies with him too)
4. whoever was sitting next to the 9 year old who didn’t tell him to pull in his head
5. the 9 year old’s parents for not teaching/drilling him about how to ride in a vehicle safely (since they allowed him to ride it by himself)
6. the injured girl’s parents for not teaching/drilling her about road safety (since they felt comfortable enough leaving her to travel on the road without them).
and yes 7. a part of me even blames the little girl who apparently started the whole chain of events when she ran across the road. I bet you if she survives, she doesn’t do THAT again.
It is a sad situation any how you look at it. I feel really badly for ALL the persons involved but there is plenty blame to go around.
A practice of some passengers who rush for the ‘window seat’ in buses and this is what can happen.
Perhaps if like every other civilised country in the world we insist on keeping the windows of public transportation vehicles closed with the ac on inside this may not have happened. May the poor child rest in peace and I do hope the injured one has a speedy and complete recoveryl
Reckless driving is the most likely cause for this most unfortunate accident.
Once again, our police is found wanting. These neighborhood roads should be monitored during the peak hrs of traffic. We are still in the dark ages in terms of our traffic laws and our drivers are cavemen with no regard to people lives.
Maybe rather than having police officers dress in red, standing around at political meetings, their time should be best used in doing the people work…like patrolling neighborhoods on a regular basis.
Sadly it does not take a genius to have seen that the situation with so many students coming out of schools within close proximity of each other, and at similar times, was literally ‘an accident waiting to happen’. For us motorists, our solution to this ‘nightmare’ is to avoid travelling at that time, if we can.
The authorities response to this nightmare appears to be ‘get the police to conduct the traffic’. And there is stopped. Such a shame.
Let’s hope that from this tragedy, a lesson is learnt. We cannot prevent all accidents, but we can ensure that fatalities, such as in this instance do not arise. For the sake of a seatbelt, a child lost their life.
Let us watch to see if the authorities take responsibility for school children by making it illegal to allowing transport without seatbelts to transport our children. There may be cost to the government and/or van drivers. But what value do you put on a life?
Let us see parents and students take responsibility for their own safety by only travelling in vehicles with seatbelts.
In the longer term, better planning is needed. It is no doubt, a value in having so many schools close together, but having them spaced further apart prevents the conjestion of traffic but more importantly, the congregation of a large number of young excited, unpredictable children, paying little attention to their surroundings, to be massed in small areas.
The Government and the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force have to take more decisive action in policing our roads. For to long road policing efforts have been centered around Arnos Vale and Kingtown. Bus drivers and conductors are some of the most ignorant and lawless people in SVG. It seems as if the word slow does not exist in there vocabulary. Sometimes you feel like disembarking the bus but you have no choice. How much more persons have to die before we see some good road policing in SVG?
The police force have to be restructured to address 21st Century Policing challenges. This includes making some redundancies in the leadership and removing the police force from under the prime minister and placing it under the Governor General. To much political interference is hampering good policing in the Caribbean. Take it from me I have done it for 21 years. The leadership of the police force must be selected based on a balance intellect, academics and experience. Not only on experience. There are many people who have spent over thirty years in police forces and cannot even develop an Annual Policing Plan with measurable parameters or can’t even structure a policy. How can they be Superintendents, Assistant Commissioners, Deputy Commusioners and Commussioners?
Why has it taken so long to introduce radar and laser speed detection devices in SVG? If you want to train police in the use of radar and laser this is what has to be done. The Institute of Police Technology and Management, University of North Florida has a course call At- Scene Traffic Crash Homicide Investigation Course, which can be delivered locally at a cost of about $20,000 US dollars, for two weeks. Up to 30 Officers can be trained at once. It is one of or if the best traffic courses being ran worlwide. check out the website IPTM.org
With the level of recklessness frequently exhibited by by bus divers, why aren’t there more traffic Corps on the street from Kingstown to Fancy and Kingtown to Chateubeliar? Why are improvements to the police force are so minimal? Most of the Caribbean Police Forces are still running on an early 18th Century Model that is why crime and lawlessness is overrunning these Islands. Look at St. Vincent and you will see where all the police stations are located. None are at the center of the communities. Most are poorly resourced and usually operate on a skeleton staff after 6:00 pm. If Caribbean police forces are to succeed at making these islands safe they have to retire everyone who has serve for over 25 years.
Superintendents to Commissioner of police should place on contract for not more that 3 years with the possibility of renewal only based on highly commendable performance. The reason being is these persons are not susceptible to change. They still want to take statements on full scab paper, carry a truncheon and wear khaki in this 87 degree weather because it is part of their history and not as matter if practicality. What a calamity.
This accident happened right next to a school which is a very risky area when driving because children are crossing roads and travelling on buses. Plus it was just after school. Therefore there should have been more traffic police there. Eye witnessess said there was none.
What really caused the accident?
Its alright for people to say the child should not put his head out the window and that the father should teach his child. Shame on you for saying that! How do you know the father doesn’t teach his child. Are you GOD? are you PHSYSIC ?
You can say that because its not your child. Just remember It could have been your child putting his head out of the window. Kids are kids and whether you tell them not to do things there is a highly likely chance that they would do it. Even us as adults don’t listen and adhere to rules.
Children are curious and by instincts if they see anything happening in the road they would look outside the window.
Even us as adults to satisfy our curiosity would look out the window even when the bus is travelling to see whats happening
THE DRIVER IS NOT A CHILD and he should have know better not to be speeding and driving recklessly when vulnerable people are on the bus. There have been previous accidents with kids on buses. So it is well known now to drivers that they should be not just careful but extra careful when travelling with kids and around areas where kids are. HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SPEEDING OUTSIDE A SCHOOL .This is a neglect for the concern of human life. From the time he started speeding he ignored the love and concern for his passengers.
The impact the child’s head hit the pole without no doubt constitutes the verosity and speed the vehicle was travelling.
The child died instantly! Plus another child got ran over.
I got knocked down once but i survived with just bruised and marks all because the driver was not speeding. If he was speeding there is a possibility that i might not have survived.
There should be rules and regulations in place concerning speed limits and protecting drivers and vulnerables people travelling in buses.
At present there is none. So if there are no rules how can there be proper punishment? So every responsible person should therefore work together to protect themselves and each other.
STOP SPEEDING WHEN DRIVING with kids. This mentality of speeding to make a quick buck has to stop in order to prevent tragedies and preserve our future generation.