12-year-old Killed Instantly in Highway Accident

Daphnie Polanco

Just before nine o’clock on Thursday night, as many Belizeans were returning home from the carnival road march in Orange Walk, a fatal road traffic accident occurred around mile twenty-six on the Philip Goldson Highway. Two vehicles, a Mazda pickup from Dangriga and a Toyota corolla car from Belize City flipped multiples times before coming to a stop off the highway. Inside the pickup at the time were David, Davisha and Daphnie Polanco as well as Davina Polanco, Darcie Lopez Polanco and Tyrone Parham while the car was occupied by Jadiel Usher and Dion Skeen. Several reports from drivers indicate that the driver of the Toyota corolla was speeding, overtaking several vehicles along the highway, presumably to beat the traffic to the city. According to a witness, the car clipped the pickup causing both vehicles to flip. The car came to a stop with its four wheels in the air, while the pickup landed in a ditch on the left-hand side of the highway. It was a traumatic experience for the many persons who stopped to render assistance and a harrowing ordeal for relatives of Daphnie, who would later realize that the twelve-year-old suffered severe head injuries and died on the spot.  While Usher and Skeen were unhurt, the other passengers in the pickup sustained various degrees of injuries.  The news of her demise has left the students as well as the faculty and staff at Solid Rock Academy in Dangriga in shock. Acting Principal Ysela Aleman told News Five today that Daphnie’s standard five classmates are being counseled.

On the Phone: Ysela Aleman, Acting Principal Solid Rock Academy

“This morning our secretary called and told us about what happened. Right after that I saw the message from the teacher who was trying to call me last night and I called her right back. But it was not confirmed; she just said that she heard about the accident, but we were not sure what happened. So I tried to contact the rest of the teachers and our local manager and nobody knew anything about it. Until we reached the school, we heard the students talking about it and I called the parents and then it was confirmed.”

Duane Moody

“Now ma’am I know that this is always a very traumatic experience for her classmates when you’re hit with this kind of news. what is being done at the school at this time?”

On the Phone: Ysela Aleman

“All the students were looking at the teachers and waiting, probably to hear that it was a lie. But we couldn’t say that and we actually went into the class and we had our local manager, Misses Evans along with Pastor Evans and they went into the class with us and talked to them about the whole issue and what happened. And we gave the students the opportunity to express their feelings and they spoke about the last thing they remembered about her.”

Our reporter Andrea Polanco is Daphnie’s aunt and we extend our condolences to the family.