(Jamaica Gleaner) What was supposed to be an educational trip to St Mary Banana Plantation for a group of students of St Andrew College in Kingston ended in a tragic nightmare when two of the students drowned in neighbouring Portland.
The group of more than 30 students, led by four teachers, was granted permission by the school administration to visit the St Mary Banana Estate.
However, on completion of the tour, the students along with teachers reportedly extended their trip to a Portland beach for a period of recreation.
But that was not to be as things took an ugly turn. Shane Burke and Demel Osbourne, fourth-form students at the institution, did not make it back home.
When The Gleaner visited the school yesterday, a pall of gloom permeated the school community. Students and teachers wept openly while some parents who converged on the institution were in a sombre mood.
Classmates of the two deceased received counselling from the school guidance counsellor, Linda Bannister, and members of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors.
“If it wasn’t for Shane we wouldn’t reach far in track and field and Demel was good in cricket and he should have been playing cricket today (yesterday),” one student said as he mourned the death of a friend.
“Shane was the vibes person in the class. If you come to school and sad, he would help you to build your confidence,” another student said.
According to the principal, Donovan Isaacs, the group had left the school only for St Mary but the visit to Shan Shay Beach in Bryan’s Bay, Portland, was a reward for good conduct, which was promised only while they were at the plantation.
Beach breach
However, the principal noted that visiting the beach was a breach of the school’s regulations.
“This wasn’t part of the contract because the paper sent home to parents asking them for permission for the students to attend was for them to go on the plantation, not to the beach. But they ended up at the beach, several miles from the plantation. Nobody told me or the vice-principal about it because they know going to the beach is a no-no,” he explained.
Angry parents called for the teachers who supervised the trip to give details about what took place, but they were nowhere to be found.
“Imagine, you send your child one place and hear say him dead at another; it is an awful thing and the teachers better come and talk to us about it because we need explanation,” Rorrust Burke, Shane’s father, tearfully said.
“My son who was my only son, was a good boy, him never used to give trouble. He was very disciplined and I know he would achieve his goal of becoming a banker,” he added.
As Cecil Osbourne struggled to come to terms with the loss of his nephew, Demel, he said he is not ruling out taking action against the school.
“When I heard that my nephew drowned, I said drown. Is there any beach where they went to? They, said no; they stopped somewhere else. There was a breakdown in communication because if the letter had said beach, my nephew would have never gone there,” he lamented.
“I have invested in him by trying to give him a chance and they deprived him of that chance by disobeying. It is sad to know that there are teachers who are so careless,” he added.
It is reported that Demel and a female student who went swimming got into difficulty and Shane tried to assist them.
The driver of the bus realised that the students were in difficulty and rushed to offer assistance, but he too found himself struggling and had to be rescued by a local fisherman.
One of the students was also rescued by the man and his colleagues, but the other two disappeared.
A search was carried out and one of the bodies was recovered by the divers with assistance from the marine police.
The principal said action could be taken against the teachers but he was awaiting word from the Ministry of Education.
