Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer From Jamaica Gleaner

KINGSTON, Jamaica: The mother of the nine-year-old twin boys who drowned after they fell into a gully in Montego Bay last evening was flown home from the Cayman Islands this morning.

Andrea Bernard, known affectionately to her colleagues as Sandra, was working yesterday in the kitchen of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Cayman Islands when news came that her sons – Brandon and Brayden Jones had fallen into the North Gully in Montego Bay, St James and could not be found.

One of Bernard’s colleagues said she was with the distraught mother up to late last night.

She said Bernard was unable to speak when there was no word of the boys’ whereabouts up to late evening.

However, even before the two boys were found this morning, emergency arrangements were being made to facilitate Bernard’s return to Jamaica, when she reportedly stumbled into the tragic news that her sons had been found dead.

The bodies were reportedly found at Dump Up Beach along Howard Cooke Boulevard, as heavy rains assaulted the second city yesterday.

A colleague told The Gleaner that there was hush over the kitchen staff of the large hotel as the news sank in.

“Its hard, its really hard,” one staff member said.

However, she said she could not say anything more as information was still seeping in.

It’s understood that the hotel has put in place grief counselling preparations for staff members who may be in need of it.

The boys were on their way home from the Green Pond Primary School when one reportedly climbed on a rail and then fell off into the gully.

Meanwhile, the Education Minister Ronald Thwaites says he and the entire ministry are grieving with the boys’ family and school.

Jamaica Teachers’ Association president Dr Mark Nicely says the union is in mourning over the deaths.

For more on this story got to: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=52993

See also iNews Cayman story in iNews Briefs published May 21 2014 “9-year-old brothers washed away, feared dead in Montego Bay [Mother works in Cayman fly’s home]” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/inews-briefs-120/