Trelawny Crash Survivor Anika Walters’ Family Planning to Return Her Home

The family of Anika Walters, a lone survivor from the motorcar accident that collided with a coach bus operated by Island Route last Sunday, January 19, which claimed the lives of four men on Falmouth Bypass in Trelawny, is seeking to raise funds to bring her home to Canada for medical treatment.

Walters, 39-year-old single mother of six children from London, Ontario in Canada, remains hospitalised in Jamaica with extensive injuries, including several broken bones, a concussion, a fractured skull and loss of teeth, according to her sister, Kayla Dobney, in an interview with Global News in Canada.

Five persons including Walters, were on their way to the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on January 19, after her flight was booked to travel back to Canada, driving in a Nissan March motorcar heading towards Montego Bay when the driver overtook a line of traffic before it crashed into the Island Route tour bus along the Falmouth Bypass in Trelawny shortly after 10am, which was being driven in the opposite direction.

The five occupants of the car and the bus driver sustained injuries. Three of the injured men travelling in the car died on spot, while the other later died at a hospital.

The four dead men were later identified by the police as brothers Omar and Omroy Russell, 23-year-old Dayton McLeary, and 22-year-old Everton James, all residents of Portland.

Canadian media stated that Walters’ family said the four men who died were her close friends and were travelling with her to the airport.

It later revealed that Walters and her family, including her children, visited Jamaica for Christmas holidays. The other family members journeyed back home, but Walters remained behind for extended stay on the island.

In the meantime, Walters’ sister, Kayla Dobney, made an announcement that the family has launched a GoFundMe page “to raise CAD $70,000 to bring her back to Canada for surgery in Toronto, as well as to cover costs of future medical expenses for physiotherapy, and legal fees for a lawyer overseas.”

Walters is currently admitted in serious but stable condition in hospital and could hardly talk, Dobney informed the Canadian reporters. The only way for her to communicate is by “shaking her head and nodding” to let persons around her understand that she is able to hear them said Dobney.

A family friend is providing assistance to Walters at the hospital, as her family has not returned to the island.

The GoFundMe page had raised over CAD $9,000 since Saturday.