Arrangements being made to accommodate thousands at funeral

Come Sunday, thousands of Vincentians are expected to descend on the northern village of Fancy, where they will pay their final respects to the five children that died in the Rock Gutter tragedy.{{more}}

On January 12, a bus transporting persons — mainly students — from Fancy, ran off the road at Rock Gutter, Owia. Five students, who lost their lives in the accident, will be buried in a joint funeral service this weekend at the Fancy hard court.

Two other students who were on the bus are still missing.

While speaking at an event on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves revealed that a number of arrangements are being made to accommodate the large number of persons who are expected to attend the funeral.

“I want to say to you that here at the Office of the Prime Minister, in conjunction with the other agencies…we are at work, having all the arrangements properly made,” he said.

“You are going to have thousands of people, we anticipate will be out there. We’re going to have seating under tents; the big tent, courtesy the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Carnival Development Committee with the stage, National Lotteries with some supportive tents. We have to be renting many more chairs; we had to make arrangements for temporary toilet facilities.”

The police band is expected to be there and a shuttle service will be provided for persons attending the funeral. Also, medical personnel will be mobilized to be present in the event of an emergency.

“Not everybody can get over to Fancy, so we’re going to have maybe 12, 20 shuttle buses, which we are going to have stationed at Owia so people can park at Owia,” Gonsalves explained.

“We’re going to have medical personnel of one kind or the other, we’re going to have the ambulances, and we’re going to have the Georgetown hospital being put on special alert. I just gave you a snapshot of some of the arrangements that we have to make in that regard. I want to assure you that we are doing all our best, putting all our efforts in so that these children, these young persons can have something done in glory and to continue the healing process.”

The five children will also be the first persons to be buried in a new cemetery at Fancy, as the existing one is full.(BK)