SALTMARSH, Trelawny — A quiet stretch of the north-coast highway turned deadly in the small hours of Sunday when a chartered minivan flipped and skidded off the Saltmarsh roadway, killing all five passengers on board.
Police investigators say the group — residents of Spanish Town and Portmore in St Catherine — was en route to an early-morning fête in Hanover when the crash occurred at roughly 2:30 a.m. Initial reconstruction points to the vehicle losing stability on a slight bend before tumbling onto its roof.
Two victims died instantly. Emergency crews rushed the remaining three to Falmouth Public General Hospital, where doctors fought unsuccessfully to stabilise their critical injuries.
Traffic officers have withheld the names of the deceased pending notification of their next of kin. Meanwhile, forensic examiners are determining whether speed, driver fatigue, or mechanical failure was the primary trigger.
The incident pushes Trelawny’s 2025 road-fatality tally to 18, reigniting calls for heightened patrols and stricter monitoring of late-night party shuttles along the parish’s coastal corridor.
