Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer

SPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:

A 49-year-old businesswoman was killed along a section of Highway 2000 Tuesday afternoon after the vehicle in which she was a passenger got out of control and ran off the road.

The other two occupants of the vehicle were injured.

The dead woman has been identified as Merlin Bishop of Hayes district, Clarendon.

Reports are that, about 2:00 p.m., Bishop was one of three persons travelling in a Nissan motor vehicle, heading towards Kingston, when the driver lost control of the vehicle which ran off the road, killing Bishop, who was in the front passenger seat, on the spot. The driver and the other occupant of the vehicle were taken to hospital for treatment.

Flight to catch

"When mi hear bout the accident, I was very shock as she just walk out a mi arm. And mi can't believe seh this really happen," Bishop's daughter, Stacey Powell, told The Gleaner.

Ms. Powell, 30, said her mother was heading to the Norman Manley International Airport to catch a flight to go overseas to purchase goods for her business. She also told The Gleaner that Bishop died leaving nine children, the youngest being a three-year-old. She said she did not know how to relay the sad details to the rest of the family.

Meanwhile, members of the highway patrol were conducting investigations into what might have caused the vehicle to run off the road.