Truck driver dies on road while walking to collect flu medication

The rural community of St John, which borders the parishes of Clarendon and St Catherine, has been hard hit by news that one of its residents, Oneal ‘Everette’ Cottrell, died suddenly this week after complaining about flu-like symptoms.

The Beacon has confirmed that on Tuesday, February 5, a female resident of the community stumbled upon Cottrell lying on a path that connects his house to the main road in St John.

The woman raised an alarm and other residents converged on the scene – some speculating that Cottrell had died there.

One of Cottrell’s aunts eventually arrived and took him to Linstead Public Hospital in St Catherine where he was pronounced dead.

When The Beacon visited St John district yesterday, members of the bereaved family were huddled in a room where Cottrell lived up to the time of his sudden death.

He shared the home with his common-law wife and three young sons, residents disclosed.

His relatives at the house declined to be interviewed, stating that they were too distraught. Cottrell’s common-law wife was still in tears.

A cousin of the deceased told The Beacon that Cottrell complained about experiencing flu-like symptoms from as early as Sunday this week.

“From dem man deh don’t goh work, yuh know him sick bad,” a St John resident said, adding that Cottrell worked with WINDALCO as a bauxite truck driver.

This is the intersection in St John, Clarendon, where Oneal Cottrell died. He was walking from the path shown on the right of this photo to collect medication form a taxi-man who would have passed the said path using the asphalted main road that is also shown in this photo..

A relative of the deceased said the late Cottrell left his house shortly before mid-day on Tuesday, and was heading to the main road in his community to collect medication from a taxi operator who was asked to make the delivery.

“Him drop down when him almost reach the main road to collect the medication his girlfriend sent for him with a taximan,” the relative added.

Speculation, in the meantime, is rife that Cottrell died as a result of dengue fever or he probably fell and hit his head on a stone.

A post mortem will be conducted to help determine the cause of death.

By Horace Mills, Journalist

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