Francine Black, Staff Reporter
An aerial view of the derailed bauxite train which crashed into a Leyland truck killing its driver in Bushy Park, St. Catherine yesterday. - PHOTOS BY JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ATTEMPTS BY residents of Bushy Park, St. Catherine yesterday to warn Mahan Tate, a Leyland Truck driver about the approaching bauxite train were not good enough. The end result was a train wreck which killed him.
Residents claim that Tate drove his truck under a bridge a few metres from the train line and did not see their frantic waves for him to stop. "When he was passing under the bridge he couldn't hear the train blowing and the sounds from the truck were loud so he could not hear us. Some guys were under the bus stop - facing the truck - and tried to stop him but he never did," Bijean Gayle a resident of the community told The Gleaner.
According to police, the bauxite train was proceeding from Port Esquivel towards Ewarton when on reaching the intersection of the Bushy Park main road and the train line, the driver of the truck failed to stop and was hit by the train.
The train pushed the truck several metres down the track. The impact and attempts by the train driver to stop the train caused it to derail before coming to rest under a tree.
Edna Tate, Mahan's wife, said her husband was on his way to work with the truck filled with top soil but she still was unclear about what happened. She said her son who lives in the area called her and told her that her husband was dead. She has been in shock since she heard the news. "I am in shock because is just a year since I bury my big son and him come now and die," she told The Gleaner as her sister stood with her.
Several relatives of Tate, who was 54, and from Old Harbour Mews, rushed to the scene where scores of residents and curious onlookers gathered trying to catch a glimpse of the crushed body that was under the mangled remains of the Leyland truck.
Onlookers tried to pull Tate, who was still breathing, from the wreckage but his lower body was pinned under the crushed vehicle and he died before they could rescue him.
ADEQUATE SIGNS FOR MOTORISTS
Manley Brandon, head of rails at Windalco bauxite company was uncertain about the extent of the damage to the train and the line but said the repairs would be expensive. He said although the level crossing had no one manning it, international regulations dictate that the train has the right of way at all times. He adds that there were adequate signs up to 150 metres before reaching the crossing which warn motorist of the upcoming crossing. The train usually starts blowing up to 400 metres or a quarter mile from the crossing, he added.
He said the team would have worked throughout the night to restore the rail lines, so that the company could resume trips by today.
