Last night, police said that Sean Bishop, one of the five passengers, was transferred to hospital in Kingston.

The crash occurred after 2:00 pm in the vicinity of the Epping service station. One man, who gave his name only as Dwayne and who said he witnessed the crash, told the Observer that he had stopped at the service station and bought phone cards when he saw the Tacoma taking gas there.

He said that shortly after he drove out of the service station, the Tacoma sped past him and another car then started to slide before slamming into the sign post.

The impact, he said, threw the man who eventually died from the vehicle before it crashed into a concrete utility pole and ended up in the ditch.

"Mi run come look and the youth in the back lie down dead and the others bruck up bad," he said.

District Officer Raymond Goodlett of the Fire Department said "we received a call about 2:30 pm. We responded and on arrival we saw a grey Toyota Tacoma in the ditch and we conducted a rescue."

He said that one person was trapped and another was on the ground. "We rescued the one in the van and sent them off to the hospital," said Goodlett.

According to Sergant Dwayne Campbell, who is investigating, the Tacoma was travelling westerly and after exiting the bridge the vehicle ran off the road.