Seven college students were among eight persons travelling in a Suzuki Escudo when it crashed at Villa, while travelling towards Kingstown on Friday, SEARCHLIGHT has confirmed.{{more}}

The incident involved PL798, driven by Julio Francis, son of Minister of Transportation and Works Senator Julian Francis.

Police, however, said yesterday that only five persons were in the vehicle when it crashed around 5:30 p.m.

Police confirmed that the younger Francis was the driver, but said the owner of the vehicle is unknown.

SEARCHLIGHT, however, confirmed that six males and two females, one of whom is not a student, were in the vehicle.

Four persons were seated in the back seat and two in the trunk, while the driver and the eighth person were in the front seats.

Up to press time yesterday, five persons were in hospital, including Marley Young, who was in the front passenger seat.

He underwent surgery for a ruptured spleen.

Ethan Clarke, who was in the back seat, broke his hip and leg and had a tooth knocked out.

Cortland Bunyan, who was in the trunk, suffered a dislocated shoulder and fractured leg.

The two females, Petra-Anne Davis and Shaquille Branker, were in the back seat.

Davis fractured her leg in several places and sustained a cut to the head, while Branker fractured her jaw bone in several places.

The driver was also hospitalised with a cut to his head.

The other passenger in the trunk, Kelrain Leslie, escaped unharmed, while backseat passenger J’rai Da Silva sustained cuts and bruises along with a severe injury to his left thumb.

The police release yesterday did not list Cortland Bunyan, J’rai DaSilva and Kelrain Leslie among the occupants of the vehicle.(AA)