Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves today paid tribute to victims who lost their lives in the Rock Gutter Tragedy.
Friday 12th of January 2024, will mark 9 years since seven children, who on their way to school, perished when the minivan in which they were travelling, plunged off the road in an area known as Rock Gutter, into the Atlantic Ocean.
“I want to remember by name those seven young people who died. Chanstacia Stay, Simonique Ballantyne, Jamalie and Jamall Edwards; Racquel Ashton of the Georgetown Secondary School; Anique Alexander; and Glenroy Michael. Madam speaker, I remember them daily,” said the Prime Minister, as he reflected on the incident.
“The family of the deceased persons gave a plaque to me and that plaque stand on the wall immediately where I sit as prime Minister. Daily I see these students, these young people. They fortify me, the bolster and strengthen me and they gave me inspiration to do the work I am elected to do with Gods will,” said Dr. Gonsalves.
The accident took place at rock gutter, between the rural villages of Fancy and Owia, when a mini-bus carrying twenty-one persons, eighteen of whom were students on their way to secondary schools at Georgetown, North Union, and Kingstown, went over a precipice into the raging sea.
