Two dead in Western Highway crash

Two people are dead as poor weather conditions, heavy vehicles, and high beams proved to be the perfect combination for tragedy on the Western Highway. Sometime around 6:45 Wednesday evening, forty-two year old Daniel Archer was driving a Novelo’s bus from Belmopan to Belize City, when as he reached between miles thirty-three and thirty-four, heavy rain began to fall. According to Archer’s statement to police, a vehicle approached from the opposite direction with bright lights, which blinded the bus driver. In an attempt to avoid a collision, Archer applied his brakes, but the bus skidded sideways across the road. The oncoming vehicle, a Mack truck driven by twenty-two year old Jose Hernandez, slammed into the bus’s side. The bus was then hit by a car travelling behind it. By the time the dust settled, twenty-three year old Guatemalan, Neftali Zuniga, and twenty-three year old Benedicto Cal of Belmopan, were suffering from fatal injuries. Zuniga, who was a bus passenger, was killed on impact, while Cal, a passenger in the truck, died at the K.H.M.H. Several other bus passengers, including two policemen and an eighteen month old baby girl, suffered minor injuries. The section of the Western Highway where the accident occurred has become notorious for traffic mishaps, as the curves are not well banked and the highway becomes very slippery at the onset of rain.