Garbage Truck Knocks Down and Drags Toddlers in Belize City
There was a traffic accident early this morning in the south side of Belize City. Maria and Reyna, three year old twins, were riding with their mom, Reyna Savala, when they were hit by a truck. The mother was accompanying another sibling to school when the accident happened. Fortunately, the family sustained minor injuries, but still had to be treated at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Maria underwent surgery for injuries to her feet. Andrea Polanco has this story.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Only pieces of Reyna Savala’s bike were left scattered on the corner of Mahogany Street and Western Avenue after she met in an accident shortly after eight this morning. Savala was riding down Mahogany Street with her three year old twin girls on her bike when this Belize Waste Control Truck collided into her. Fred Mendez said the truck’s side-man tried to alert the driver, but he wasn’t successful and in a flash, the truck was dragging the family underneath.
Fred Mendez
Fred Mendez, Assisted Family in Accident
“Weh get my attention dah when I hear somebody di halla di haul out. When I look so, I si the side man ah the truck even before the truck turn and the sideman di holler to the driver, ‘ hold it, hold it hold it.’ But suh the truck the swing, he di holler harder. And when I look, I only hear bang and that’s when the truck knock the bike and haul the people dem right. When I jump up and I run out deh, the lee gial weh deh eena di bike strap dah back in the carrier she still underneath the truck strap. So dah me pull she out from underneath the truck. The lee gial and ih ma deh lay down under the truck. The side man bawl after the driver and tell ah reverse because the truck deh set on some people, but it neva run ova them it only set and mi di squeeze ah.”
Luckily, when Cheney Ebanks went to assist the family, the girls were responsive and for the most part, they suffered only minor injuries.
Cheney Ebanks, Rescued Child in Accident
“When I pull out the lee gial, I feel hotness on me and I mi think that the lee gial mi urine ih self, but dah mi blood. When I check the lee gial on the back ah ih foot, the bone push out. I tell them we need to get the lee gial to hospital because ih foot bruk.”
Andrea Polanco
“What other injuries did you see?”
Cheney Ebanks
Cheney Ebanks
“Well, she only get…I had wah big hole to the back ah ih foot back and ih get ih head buss. The next lee gial get ih arm scrape, ih leg scrape up and ih head buss. The mother didn’t get much injuries, but the lee gial weh I mi di hold, she really get hurt bad.”
Although the mother lost her means of transportation and one of her daughters had to go undergo surgery, from Mendez’s account, it could have been worse.
Fred Mendez
“I nuh know weh he mi di do because the sideman di holla before the truck turn. And it looks like dah when he swing the bumpa dah weh box the lady and then haul ah underneath the truck. She trapped right by the front wheel because if the truck mi eva come across deh it mi wah run ova both of them.”
Andrea Polanco
“The truck we are talking about is one of the garbage trucks? “
Fred Mendez
“Waste Control. And the truck mi di smoke and mek ah lotta noise and dah mussie that mek the driver nuh hear when the sideman mi di halla fi ah. The truck mi di let go a lot of fumes.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, you’d say the mother and her two kids were very lucky today?”
Fred Mendez
“Well, thank God for that and I concerned when it comes to kids safety.”
Mendez who lives on the corner says that he has seen a number of small accidents in recent months, but none like this one.
Fred Mendez
“I think right yah so need pedestrian ramp by each corner before approaching the lane so that deh could slow down. This Mahogany Street, especially this curve yah lotta thing happens. Very well accidents happen yah, even motorcycle, bicycle, vehicle happen right yah so. So far, this dah the worst one.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Andrea Polanco.
The truck driver, forty-eight year old Orlando Pech, has been served with a Notice of Intended Prosecution.
