Five die in weekend traffic accidents
If you travelled the nation’s highways this weekend and made it home safely, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. The Northern, Western and Southern Highways were the scenes of no less than five traffic accidents, in which six lives were lost. We begin in the north. According to police reports, around 7:30 on Sunday night, a mini bus taxi driven by Jose Mendoza travelling from the Free Zone collided with a truck between mile ninety and ninety-one on the Northern Highway, just outside Corozal Town. Three of the taxi’s passengers sustained fatal head and body injuries and were pronounced dead on arrival at the Corozal hospital. They have been identified as Edilberto Mendoza, Rosa Perez and Maria Jose Sanchez. The other passengers received serious injuries and have been transferred to the K.H.M.H. were they are listed in critical but stable condition. The driver of the truck, twenty-six year old Abraham Balona escaped with minor injuries.
Meanwhile in Belize City, a fifteen-year-old girl lost her life after taking a motorcycle ride with her uncle. Police reports are that around 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, fifteen year old Kimberly Blackett, a second form student of St. Michael’s College, was with her uncle, Eric Savery, when the bike ran into several loads of sand on the side of the street. Savery lost control of the motorcycle and collided with a pick-up parked on the other side of the street. Blackett was thrown from the bike and sustained a severe injury to the back of her head. She was rushed to the K.H.M.H. but succumbed to her injuries around ten a.m. on Sunday.
On Saturday night, motorists on the Western Highway came across this scene at mile thirteen. Eyewitnesses tell News 5 that the driver of the dump truck appeared to have had difficulty controlling the vehicle as it swerved from side to side, hitting a Ford Ranger before it crashed. We understand that the truck had just left mile eight heading west for Belmopan. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident, but no injuries have been reported.
Further west, a hit and run accident claimed the life of a Benque Viejo man. Police say they were called to Buena Vista Street in San Ignacio around 11:00 p.m. on Saturday where they saw the lifeless body of a man near an overturned black Kia SUV. The man was transported to the San Ignacio Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He has been identified as forty-seven year old Leslie Guy of a Benque Viejo Road address. Subsequent investigations revealed that the man had been hit by the SUV and the driver had fled the scene of the accident. Police have since detained thirty-four year old Albert Haylock as the driver of the vehicle, who just happens to live on the same street as the deceased. Haylock has not yet been charged.
On the Southern Highway, Independence police were called to the Placencia Road where they saw the body of man lying on the road. He was later identified as fifty-four year old Ignacio Francisco Arzu of West Street in Dangriga. Arzu was transported to the Southern Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. According to the officers, Arzu had been driving his white Chevy Blazer from Seine Bight to Dangriga when the vehicle suffered a blowout and overturned. Arzu’s passengers, fifty year old Victoria Ramirez and fifty-five year old Therese Augustine received minor injuries. Viewers are reminded that traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of deaths in Belize. Please drive within the speed limit on the nation’s highways.
