Bermuda bore witness to many accidents, road fatalities and other tragedies throughout the year.

There were seven deaths on the Island's roads in 2004.

In February, guest worker Donald Leger of Canada, was killed in a road traffic accident. Donald Leger, 42, who worked at the Sonesta Beach Hotel and also as a dry waller for TCC Dry Walling, died following the accident on Sonesta Bay Road, Southampton, in the early hours of February 5.

The father of two received massive head injuries in the smash and was placed in the intensive care unit of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital before being airlifted to Moncton, New Brunswick.

He died in the company of family and friends who last night expressed "shock and disbelief" at his death.

On May 20, Jason Binns, a 22-year-old Southampton man, was discovered on Middle Road in Southampton, near the junction of Rose Hill Road, by a Police car on patrol at 3 a.m.

Lifelong friend Jason Simons, who was riding with Mr. Binns, said the victim appeared to black out or fall asleep and his bike drifting across the road and ploughing into a wall.

At 6 a.m. on September 25, Derek Caines Jr. collided with a wall in his Daihatsu Charade. Mr. Caines is thought to to have been travelling west on North Shore Road near Loyal Hill before he lost control of the car.

His mother Delarie Outerbridge said he was "loved by everybody. He was happy and well mannered. He was always smiling. He liked to have a joke."

On Saturday October 2, visitor and mother-of-three Rosemary Bigelow, 50, of Malvern, Pennsylvania, was on a rental scooter when it hit a tractor trailer on Middle Road as she left Paget Plaza.

Mrs. Bigelow had been on the Island for just a day and was here with her husband to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.

She was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead minutes later.

Less than two weeks later, the second visitor road death took place on October 14 when Linda Elizabeth Anne Carpenter Inman, 50, of Lake Forest, Illinois, died when the motor scooter she was riding was hit by a bus near Mullet Bay in St. George's .

She is survived by husband George Inman, who was in the accident with her, and their children, Mark and Brittany.

"She was a mom to everybody," said Mary Jo Papich, chairman of the Fine and Applied Arts Department at Mrs. Inman's school. "She treated each student like gold."

Ms Papich said the school was setting up a special scholarship in Mrs. Inman's name

On November 17, Dandy Town player Dion Woodley, 22, was travelling west with two other bikers on St. John's Road. Mr. Woodley had been riding between two other bikers at 1.30 a.m. when he lost control of his bike while taking a right-hand bend near the Dandy Town Football Club and struck a utility pole.

He suffered serious head injuries and was rushed to hospital but died soon after. Keisha Simons was at the scene the next day to pay her respects to Mr. Woodley: "He was a nice guy - a joker. Always happy and smiling. He liked children."

The final road death of the year was another Dandy Town player, Randy Swan, who was taken off life support at KEMH on December 21. The 24-year-old, suffered massive head injuries in a two-car collision in Southampton on the morning of December 17.

Three other men died in tragic circumstances in 2004 -two within a week of each other on South Shore beaches during periods of so called riptides.

On Thursday June 17, Dr. Jermias Dubyk, a 59-year-old visitor from Springfield, New Jersey, died after snorkelling at Cross Bay Beach in Southampton.

Dr. Dubyk, who practised gynaecology and obstetrics in Newark, New Jersey, was visiting the Island with his wife and 12-year-old son and had been staying at the Wyndham Bermuda Resort. Five days later, on June 22, 73-year-old US visitor John Ruehle of Lavonia, Georgia, died from heart failure while snorkelling at Horseshoe Bay Beach .

Several witnesses told The Royal Gazette they had seen the victim pulled to shore by several men who made a desperate attempt to save him by performing CPR.

Fishing enthusiast Raymond Pearman, 66 of Jubilee Road, Devonshire, drowned after he slipped off a gangway into the sea at a dock at Marginal Wharf, St. David's on Monday, August 30.

Mr. Pearman had two brothers, Keith and Will Pearman, and sister Ann Melley. Will Pearman said it was a little bit awkward for (his brother) to get off of the boat, and he slipped and fell."We don't know if he was knocked out," he said. "His mate tried to grab him but he was 300 pounds and he was only 150 pounds. He fell in between the wall and the boat".