It has been a very busy weekend for the Saint Lucia Fire Service. The organisation responded to a total of 102 ambulance calls from Friday 17th to Monday 20th January. These included three motor vehicle accidents, one snake bite incident and a bush fire in Black Bay, Vieux Fort.
There was a total of 71 ambulance responses in the north of the island which included a motor vehicular accident at Roseau at approximately 6:10 p.m. on 17th January. Both the Gros Islet Fire Station and the Babonneau Fire Station responded to this accident. A total of six individuals were ejected from the back of a pickup and onto the side of the road during the accident. All six individuals were transported to Victoria Hospital where they were reported to be nursing minor injuries.
Video footage of the aftermath of this accident quickly made the rounds on social media. The footage revealed certain individuals shifting the bodies of the injured persons at the scene of the accident. In relation to this footage, Germaine Williams, Acting Divisional Officer at the St. Lucia Fire service, has issued a word of caution to the public.
He stated yesterday, “The Fire Service would like to advise people that persons involved in motor vehicular accidents, especially persons who have been ejected from a vehicle, may suffer injuries that are not visible. And we notice in clips circulating on social media that persons were moved, persons were hit and persons were shifted. We want to advise persons that this kind of behaviour at the scene of an accident can result in more serious injuries to the person already involved in that accident.”
Following the Roseau accident was another motor vehicle accident which occurred on 18th January. A Toyota Corolla carrying two individuals plunged into a drain at the Rodney bay junction and burst into flames as a result. The Gros Islet Fire Station extinguished the blaze. No injuries to persons were reported in this matter.
On that same day, at about 10:15, officers attached to the Fire Service Headquarters in Castries responded to a report that a vehicle had collided with a pedestrian at the Jacmel Highway. Upon arrival the officers discovered that a female in her 60s had suffered major body trauma as a result of that collision. She was pronounced dead on the scene of the accident.
There was a total of 31 ambulance calls in the south of the island. These included two motor vehicle accidents which resulted in minor injuries and a vehicle fire at Tet Chemin, Choiseul.
