Two men crawled unscathed from a wrecked van after it smashed through roadside barriers and careered down a hill.

The accident happened yesterday and was the third accident this year on the same stretch of Middle Road, near Five Star Island.

Earlier this year two elderly people and a young child were lucky to escape when their car plunged down the cliff coming to rest the right way up in the sea.

Yesterday, the white Holmes Williams and Purvey Suzuki light van was travelling east when it appeared to lose control on the wet road surface and crash through barriers.

It came to rest on its side about 20 feet down the embankment, lodged against bushes. It ended up pointing the way it had come.

The two men inside the van declined to talk to The Royal Gazette yesterday but eyewitness Edwin Bashir said he was heading west and saw the van coming directly towards him.

"I could do nothing. I just eased my brakes. The van skidded and was coming straight towards me, but by the grace of God they managed to control it and missed me, but it went over the edge.

"There was a lot of smoke, but the two men managed to climb out of the van.

There were two tourists on bikes and they must have panicked when they saw the crash because they fell off,'' said Mr. Bashir.

He added: "I was running backwards and forwards between the van and the tourists. I shouted to the people in the van to see if they were alright and both of them called out.

"There was a lot of smoke, but it died down and they managed to climb out by themselves.'' The accident happened just before midday and was just a few yards from the spot where the two elderly people and a child plunged over the cliff.

Both the Police and Fire Brigade attended the crash scene yesterday and the van was eventually pulled free by a tow truck which arrived at about 12.30 p.m.

Police said it appeared the cause of the accident was the wet road conditions which made the surface greasy and slippery.

They said the van had overtaken the two tourists who fell from their bikes after seeing the van crash ahead of them. They were not injured.