Prime Minister and MP for the Vieille Case Consitutency, Roosevelt Skerrit and Opposition Leader Lennox Linton have expressed sadness over an accident in Ambas, Vieille Case which claimed the lives of five men on Sunday morning.
The Prime Minister described the accident in a statement on Sunday as ‘tragic.’
“It is with profound sadness that I inform all of a tragic accident which took the lives of five very promising young men from my constituency,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “Just last evening I spent a considerable amount of time with one of the young men as we met with the young people from my constituency. In fact, he gave the welcome address at the forum. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased. We all share in the pain and suffering. For me personally, it can’t get closer. God shall give us the strength and courage to deal with this tragedy.”
Linton offered condolences to those affected by the tragedy.
“Our best wishes, thoughts and prayers for God’s guidance, support and protection to the relatives and friends of the five young brothers who lost their lives in that tragic vehicular accident in Ambas, Vielle Case this morning. May their souls rest in peace,” he said on his Facebook page.
According to reports, the accident took place around 7:00 am when a vehicle plunged over a cliff, killing all five on board.
The circumstances surrounding the accident remain unknown.
Now that we’ve finished paying our respects, will the authorities take a serious engineering look at this stretch of road? I know that accidents happen all the time, but how can we do better so that we prevent the next tragedy in that area? Some of these roads are cut so close to the edge with insufficient barriers to protect motorist. I hope there are some new designs afoot for this community. Losing five people all at once is a great loss for their families and the nation at large.
My heart felt sincere condolences to the families of the five men who lost there life’s . Am so saddened,that’s a great lost, may the lord strengthen the loved ones as they suffer that tremendous grief.
why are sooooooo many of our young men dieing one after the other?????????…………..
My deepest condolences to the families of the deceased, and also to the villages of Penville, Vieille Case, Thibaud and Ambas. We have to be strong and continue to pray and support each other in these difficult times. Keep the Faith!!!
First and foremost to the families of all the deceased, please accept our deepest and heartfelt sympathy
When the news reached us here in the Ladbroke Grove an area in the United Kingdom we fellow Dominicans were very, very saddened by it all on Sunday.
It is very, very sad whenever these tragedies occur. May their souls Rest in Peace.
Once again Condolences.
Only a mother can tell how much this hurts….Hold on. Life never always follow the path that we want it to. Life is never without pain or bad surprises. We might all have a good start in life and have a bad ending.The most only who knows what is in reserve for us.
I’m looking for de road from de picture, can’t see no road. So where did de car come from? Must have been flying?? Jus axing.
RIP my fellow Dominicans, we are all in shock. I hope this will deter our young people to stop driving when drunk, sleep at a friend or sleep in the car until you are sober. Enjoy the long weekend and be safe.
Best wishes? Bondieu oh! You esrious man?
Dominica’s new Culture met with sorrow, revulsion and strong indignation.
It’s rather intrusive this new trend or culture in Dominica, involving passer-by taking graphic pictures of homicides and accidents, fatalities like yesterday’s event and posting these on the internet. No respect, just no respect for the dead and family and friends of the dead. Some of the pictures placed on the internet are ‘sickening’, ‘distasteful’ and say the pictures are “distasteful” and “repulsive”.
Haven these passer-bys got anything better to do in their life or spare time?
It is a symptom I have been commenting about for some time now. A coarsening of the Dominican culture and psyche. A lack of empathy and a lack of concern for the life and well being of others – note the rise in traffic accidents due to lack of care of the well being of others. It is a sickening selfishness, narcissism, and material greed that has enveloped the land. I am heartbroken at who we have become.
My sentiments as well.. It done in poor taste .. Have some decorum..have some empathy… Have some decency…. To post these graphic pictures shows a lack of common sense..empathy and decency.. Allow the families to grieve without having to see their loved ones shattered in this form and posted on social media.. There should be a law to prohibit such behaviour.. My heartfelt condolences to every family member, friend, loved one… May you all find some peace in these troubled times… Rest peaceful my fellow brother’s..
Our people do not respect or understand protocol. I saw one pic by accident and I was totally horrified and angry to the core!!! I cried just knowing that any family member, or friend of the deceased would have seen that. We have become very insensitive and cold to such tragic events. From the pic I saw the boat was a coast guard boat. Why would anyone from the coast guard allow any pictures to be taken. Arent they trained? Or are they just plain insensitive. First of all the body should have been in a bag or covered. They went on a search and recovery mission, so they should have body bags at the scene. Shame on anyone who posted pictures of these victims. Shame Shame Shame on your for being so cold in such a sad time. You all should be arrested!!!
The driver is also dead; So no need for a vehicular manslaughter case. I will say this, though – We as drivers must should, and must take the lives of our passengers more seriously by driving with caution and withing a reasonable speed. …………… Passenger safety is not mentioned when one applies for drivers license, not even when it’s for transporting passengers commercially. The only thing we should try to prove to those riding in our vehicle, is that we are able to take them to their destination safely.
Lastly, a passenger bus filled with people overtook me (some time ago) and I was very afraid that this driver could crash and kill these passengers; I then sped up to catch up with this bus and got the driver’s attention and signaled for him to slow down, which he did. I felt good inside and I may have prevented a bad accident. There is something going on in DA. Strength to the families of the dead.
Sad very sad hope people can come together and not just during a tragedy,this is an example to all,we are nothing on this EARTH,When our time is up no man can stop it,May all the young men souls rest in peace.
The comments are laden with how sad everybody are, accidents don’t happen, they are caused, speeding, drunk and sleep driving , should all be investigated. let the autopsy say if alcohol was in the system of the deceased.
Not only alcohol Bob, smoking weed also has a bad effect on ability to judge and respond. Anyway, too late for these young man. Whatver happen, maybe we can learn something.
My condolences to the family of the five young me who lost their lives so tragicly in this accident our prayers are with their families on this sad moment may their soul rest in peace accept our sympathy from new jersey vielle case and penville is part of me
I would like to expressed my profound sadness and pain to to the families of the five young men after knowing all five may god give you all courage and strength and may their soul rest in peace god bless the families
Feeling the pain in Atlanta Georgia.
3 of those young men are my cousins. My heart is aching so badly I can only imagine the emotional pain and anguish all those families are experiencing right now.
My most sincere heartfelt condolences to all the families.
Rest In Peace ??
Five dead, very sad, condolences to the families. How does expressing best wishes fit into this sad situation ?
My heartfelt and deepest sympathy to entire families and community .. My heart is broken for everyone though I don’t know any of the deceased. Its a horrible way to die going down this cliff..even trying to write this comment brings tears to my eyes.. I pray that every Dominican rallies around the community and help them heal… May God give each one of you Grace and strength to digest this tragic loss..
Most profound condolences to all the relatives and friends of the deceased young men. It is sad when an elderly person dies but it is particularly painful when young people lose their lives especially to unnatural causes. You see, the old would have lived a full live but the young carries with him/her, to the grave, a life full of untapped potential and so many possibilities. Truly sad indeed!
Deepest condolences from St.Vincent and the Grenadines to the families of the deceased. It is always be heart wrenching and sad whenever these tragedies occur. We had a similar accident a few years ago called the Rock Gutter tragedy when a Mini Van carrying school children plunged over a cliff and into the sea in rough waters seven(7) school children died and two of the bodies have not been recovered,.May their souls Rest in Peace.
I remember that accident. Tragic. Right into the rocks in the sea
Yeah I followed this story closely; so much so I even watched the funeral…so heartbreaking. And that was exactly what I remembered yesterday. Rest in Peace kids.
I remember reading about this accident on DNO. It was so sad. I also have a few Vincentian friends who reside in Ontario. They also told me about it. When accidents as these occur, it affects all nationals of the country.
This type of tragedy is not something the relatives and those who knew them will ever forget.
No matter what part of the island these young men are from the whole of Dominica feels the pain of the family, relatives and friends of these young men. The people of Penville we feel the extent of your sadness and pain and I ask God for your continued strength and courage to continue. God’s Guidance in times like these. Blessings to all by extension. May the souls of these young men rest in eternal peace
The entire Caribbean feeling the pain of our brothers and sisters in Dominica. Blessings to all.
I pray that our Govt will find it right to declare that road a disaster and abandon and ban that road blok it for life, we must find an alternative safer road entry and exit made into Vielle Casse, Penville, and Thibaud, that can be done, this cannot be allowed to continue,
With all due respect, This is the very first time that a vehicle has gone over that cliff and therefore this could be termed an isolated incident.
I grew up in Vieille Case and went to school in Roseau before departing for the United States.
So I pretty much lived there for most of my life.
Ask any and all of the elders who grew up in the village and everyone will tell you that this accident has no precedent.
Declaring that road a disaster, and “banning it for life” as you mentioned above are all well and good;
However there are very few options or “alternate routes” as you put it for entry into these villages.
The very nature of the terrain plays an important role in determining how these roads are built.
A more practical approach would therefore be to drive with caution when handling these roads whether you are carrying passengers or not. My condolences to the affected families.
A restraining wall should be built around there.
You know Dominica is mountainous and some roads are narrow and curving. It will take a lot of money to re-build roads. We hope in time this will be done.
you don’t know the area. why don’t u shut the hell up.
I dont want to be insensitive and we are grateful for your kind words but just to ensure the infomtaion is clear to the public Parl rep and Mr Linton the name of the village could have been mentioned because there ar three villages in the constitunecy.. the victims are from Penville.
PM is not required to give such details; clearly beneath his paygrade, responsibility and out of context of his intent. I don’t care for the guy but we must learn to respect our leaders. In any case, his message is an offer of condolences and an actual follow up from the original news article. You did mean to be insensitive, and political, and uncaring and you were very successful. Shame on you!
The accident happened in VC stop being petty stupes now is not the time for this
@sad…..Right now everyone is in shock and grieving in one way or the other. All the victims are from Dominica (home). Please allow everyone to grieve and you will come with your corrections at a later date
we need some grief counsellors in Penville ASAP.. the community needs all the emotional support that it can… we can sweep this under the carpet and expec t to be better..
Heartfelt condolences to families of the deceased. This is another sad day for us. With tears of sadness, I must reach out to all Dominicans, not just PM Skerrit, Mr. Linton, media outlets, priests, pastors, or police and say this could have been prevented and incidents like this will continue to happen if we don’t take distracted and DUI “driving under the influence” seriously. Whether this “influence” is drugs, alcohol or even sleep deprivation, if we care about our families, friends, neighbours, churches, constituents, we all need to start showing it. Let’s start with educating the public along with funding the police with equipment to be able to enforce our driving laws. We have roads and nice cars but no traffic schools and no breathalizers for the police. Freedom has a price.
Recipe for disaster;
Poorly maintained roads. Potholes, no barriers, roads over the edge of precipitous cliffs, lack of signage.
Drunk driving.
May their soles rest in peace!
“souls”
I am certain throughout the years many drivers have driven on this road. It is just too sad this accident occurred and took five lives. God knows what occurred to have caused this.
now is not the time for this
I read Skerrit’s statement and also read the blogs of Yolanda ‘Swallow’ Johnjules and other bloggers but no one seems to have connected the dots. So since both political party heads gave expressed condolences, let me try to connect the dots here but before I do let me express deepest sympathies to those mourning this very tragic deaths. Here’s the political connection: Roosevelt Skerrit is the Parlrep of the Vielle Case constuency which is comprised of Penville, Vielle Case, and Thibaud. The young men were coming from a government sponsored fete at Thibaud. They are all from Penville and died @ Vielle Case. While we can’t blame the fete for the accident I believe our politicians, especially the government is spending too much promoting fete, where many of our young people are usually killed or injured. ……….
Sigh. Even I’m this sad situation some conspiracy theorist decide to bring politics into this. Both leaders espresso condolences without doing that.
interesting connectin
Help us OH JAH !!!! I am very saddened !!! I don’t even know what to say !!!
This is very sad. All Dominicans hearts are heavy today. May the Lord comfort the family, friends of those that were lost this morning.
This story is so sad for the families who lost their ones and for all of us in DOMINICA. I know this is not the time for politics but I think we understand better when their is a vivid picture before us. It was Friday afternoon I was listening to DBS ‘what’s on’ for this holiday weekend and all I was hearing was a fete here and there, and sadly enough, and all you would hear is the government of DOMINICA and the parlrep invites you…U said boy is the government so involved sponsoring fete all over? Should our young people die
going or coming from these fete would they be held responsible? Sadly not one but five young men from Skerrit’s constuency, and folks that recently received their CBI, small business money. I know I will get many thumbs down but we need to look at the amount of our young men that are dying today and ask ourselves how many them the CBI money of Skerrit contributed in one way or another to their death. But my sympathy to all those left to mourn.
One time the country was boring nowhere to g n night life and is another story, no medicine. People have died coming from sports and even CRUSADE
Mr bro u a so right ave been saying that and juat look at the timing election is close and this has been happening for the last couple or few election now last one we lost so many men it was not funny Dominicans need to open our eyes it’s not normal never in da history we have been loseing ppl like this good day
Was asking the same question.. It is question worth asking
Are you serious? Is this the time to play politics? Are you that insensitive? Have you no decency? Are you that cold hearted? If you can’t express your sympathy then just shut up…… IM tired of you people playing politics on every level… Its ignorant of you and you should be ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.
It was an ideal time to plan “a fete”, on a holiday weekend. It is sad what happened. Was the driver tired, sleepy or did he have much to drink? Or did something go wrong with the vehicle?
The autopsy result of the driver and examination of the vehicle as also the speedometer should give a clue as to what happened.
its so sad to here this news may god give them eternal rest may there soul rest in peace amen
OMG!!! My deepest condolences to the families…. I have worked in that area and it really saddens me to read that story! Be strong people of Ambas Vieille Case.
people of Penville. the accident took place in ambas but the victims are from Penville
read properly nuh