Fourteen people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed when a market truck plunged over a precipice in Dam Bridge in the Rio Grande Valley on December 19.

At the same time, the driver of the ill-fated truck, 31-year-old mechanic, Charles Devon Clarke, was yesterday offered bail in the sum of $1 million by Resident Magistrate Marjorie Moisten.

A team of investigators from the Office of the Public Defender will be at Dam Bridge in the Rio Grande Valley today to examine the exact location where the market truck went over the precipice in the country's worst accident in the last 30 years.

Public Defender Earl Witter said investigators from his office would be examining particular allegations in relation to the cause of the accident.

"The team will focus attention on allegations that failure to extend an abutment to a bridge or a gabion basket in proximity is the direct cause of slippage of the road surface, thereby causing the ill-fated passenger and goods-laden truck to plunge into a ravine," said Witter in a release yesterday.

Survivors' fund

He commended the Government for establishing a fund for the survivors and dependents of the victims and urged Jamaicans to support it.

However, Witter said government assistance and contributions to the fund would not necessarily bring closure to the tragedy.

Meanwhile, Clarke is to return to court in Buff Bay on January 14.

Attorney-at-law Carl McDonald, who is representing Clarke, yesterday challenged the charges against his client.

Clarke was charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, reckless driving and failing to report an accident to the police.

McDonald insisted that his client was innocent of the charges.

"My client was embraced by one of the witnesses during an identification parade on Monday, January 5," he said.

Continuing, the attorney said, "At least two of the four witnesses were offering comforting words, and have stated in no uncertain manner that he did not cause the accident."

He told The Gleaner that his client was not negligent, adding that Clarke was extending courtesy to another motorist by swerving to avoid a collision.