- YOUNG LIVES REMEMBERED- ROCK GUTTER TRAGEDY
The seven students who died on January 12, 2015, at Rock Gutter (SVG) when the school bus they were traveling in, ran-off the road into the Atlantic Ocean, were remembered on Sunday.
The Rock Gutter tragedy claimed the lives of Jamalie Edwards and his brother Jamail Edwards of the North Union Secondary School (NUSS), Anique alexander of the NUSS, Racquel Ashton of the Georgetown Secondary School (GSS) and Glenroy Michael of the St. Vincent Grammar School (SVGS).
Chanstacia Stay of the NUSS and Simonique Ballantyne of the GSS are listed as missing but presumed dead. During the 10-year remembrance ceremony, held at the Fancy Government School, Junior Bowens, the father of Raquel Ashton, said that progress has been made ten years after the tragedy.
“Our nights are not as sleepless as they used to be. Our appetites are back to normal…the smiles on our faces have returned, we can now smile, laugh. Our minds are at ease and we are in a better place now than we were 10 years ago,” Bowens, a teacher at the Fancy Government School, told the gathering.
He added that he had the privilege of teaching some of the students who perished on that fateful day and ten years after the tragedy, some of the persons directly affected have come to accept the harsh reality of the untimely death of the students although it is “very painful”.
“However, their memories will forever live on in our hearts,” Bowens said.
Simonique’s father, Superintendent of Police Hesran Ballantyne said the death of the students remain etched in the minds of many Vincentians, more so the parents of the deceased.
He said that when the incident occurred, there was an outpouring of support not only from locals but from people all over the world.
“People reached out to us in one way or the other. I can tell you each year since this happened, especially in December, our Prime Minister reach out to one of us, sometimes me, and ask me to convey to the families,” Superintendent Ballantyne told the gathering the deaths of the children have worked to forge a bond between the parents.
He said that they all grieve differently and respect each other’s boundaries.
“I implore us all here today, as we cherish the memories of our departed, go back with me to the Garden of Eden, where our flowers will always bloom, where they shine brightly like diamonds, that we forgive…May we be encouraged today, as a people, as a community, as a country, and find solace in the footprints that our children left behind,” Superintendent Ballantyne said.
Also present at the ceremony were Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Montgomery Daniel, Leader of the Opposition Dr. Godwin Friday as well as Opposition Senator Shevern John.
