Five people, including several children are dead, after a minibus plunged into the sea in Rockgutter, an area between Owia and Fancy on the northeastern tip of St. Vincent early Monday, according to a report by journalist Kenton X. Chance.
An earlier report by the same journalist on Caribbean 360.com estimated the toll to be as high as seven.
Police and government officials said that five bodies have so far been recovered from the sea, and one person died in hospital, while another died on the way to the medical institution, the report said.
"Police are still trying to verify how many persons were in the minibus when it plunged into the sea sometime between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m (local time). Initial reports said that as many as 20 people, including 14 students from the North Union and Georgetown Secondary Schools respectively," the report said.
It is not yet clear what caused the incident, but police say that villagers were notified by persons who jumped out of the vehicle before impact, the report said.
The terrain in that area of St Vincent is an alternation of steep inclines and deep gorges and winding roads.
The report quotes PM Ralph Gonsalves as saying that the “entire nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines…has been touched by this tragedy of national proportion. We all grieve and ask God for guidance and strength as well as we lean on one another."
Gonsalves potponed a budget speech scheduled to have been delivered to Parliament on Monday.
Up to this afternoon, the search and recovery efforts were ongoing, the report said. Efforts were being hampered by large waves characteristic of the Atlantic side of the island.