Inseparable Elderly Couple Die in Horrific Traffic Collision
Audomaro & Ramona Chan
The Chan family in San Narciso Village is tonight making final preparations to put to rest two of its most senior members. Married for more than fifty years, on Wednesday afternoon Audomaro and Ramona Chan were killed after a Freightliner truck crashed into them as they were crossing the Philip Goldson Highway in their white Ford Ranger pickup. Both husband and wife died minutes apart from each other. The horrific incident happened between miles seventy-two and seventy-three, near the entrance to the village. The couple was heading over to the San Narciso Polyclinic when the Freightliner truck collided into them. They both received severe head and body injuries. Ramona perished on the scene and Audomaro died on the way to the KHMH. News Five’s HipolitoNovelo spoke to one of the persons who witnessed the fatal accident.
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
San Narciso Village residents Audomaro Chan and his wife, Romana, were inseparable. Other than sharing the same age of seventy-four, they spent more than fifty years together, until their sudden deaths. The elderly couple was killed on Thursday afternoon in a horrific road traffic accident on the Philip Goldson Highway. At around one thirty p.m. residents of mile seventy-two heard a loud bang.
Voice of: Eliel White, Eyewitness
“Me myself, I was kind of shocked because I never experience an accident so close and being there to watch the whole scenario. I heard that a lot of people way down the village heard. So it was like a huge loud noise that happened. I heard just like the horn, just once like it blow hard and then you heard the bang, the louder noise of the crash.”
The sound of the collision reverberated inside many of the houses nearby. At the scene, shocked residents observed a white Ford Ranger so badly damaged that it was ripped in two parts.
Voice of: Eliel White
“The scenario was really, really horrible. They were really, really badly damaged like the injuries. I’ve seen crashed like a little piece of the car. They tried to remove the vehicle after two hours. They transported the body. The family had to remove it because it is a busy highway. The finally tried to bring it back. It was just in three pieces. I think in two pieces, half. You know when you mash a can? It was like that. It was a really tragic accident.”
The accident occurred a few yards in front of the San Narciso Polyclinic, near the entrance to the village. Behind the wheel of the pickup truck was Audomaro and in the passenger seat was his wife. According to investigators, Audomaro was making his way across the highway when a red Freightliner truck driven by thirty-five-year-old Erik Ermoff collided into the elderly couple.
Joseph Myvett
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crimes Investigation Branch
“What we have learned so far is that Mr. Chan was northbound. Whilst reaching the area of the accident he decided to make a left turn to go towards the San Narciso junction and in so doing the Freightliner which was coming from the opposite collided into the Ford Ranger pickup.”
Audomaro received severe head and body injuries. He died while being transported to the K.H.M.H in Belize City.
Voice of: Eliel White
“You know I was so shocked that I saw him that I did not realize about her until I peeped inside. They were other people there. I saw him and he was alive. I said he was alive. To try to open the door was a problem because it was already smashed on his side. It was really damaged. I think I saw his hand was already broken. He was bleeding like he had internal bleeding. I couldn’t react. So I came back home, one of the guys said bring like lumber to try and push the door for it to be released and open. It was locked or something maybe because of the impact it got smashed. They opened the door. As soon as they opened the door, the two doctors they assisted him.”
Romana was pronounced dead on the scene. She too suffered severe head and body injuries.
Voice of: Eliel White
“They took her out. And they just laid her on the ground. She had already passed away when I went back. She was breathing, it was like her last breath. Her legs were damaged, her face actually. One of her hands was already broken. You know when you get internal bleeding and you are bleeding from your ears, your nose, your mouth.”
Audomaro and Romana were returning to the polyclinic with the intention to schedule an appointment with the internist. They leave behind ten children. Ermoff has been served with a notice of intended prosecution. Hipolito Novelo, News Five.
