Near fatal accident on Western Highway

chester williams

An entire family was killed on the Western Highway on July tenth but four Fiji nationals and one Belizean were more fortunate and survived a near fatal traffic accident on the highway. They were travelling in a Ford F-150, heading toward Belmopan and at mile sixty-six and half the vehicle slammed into the back of a Ministry of Works caterpillar. The impact of the heavy machinery caused serious injuries to two of the five passengers in the pickup and minor injures to the other three; they are all hospitalized. The cause of the collision has investigators perplexed since the Ford F-150 and the caterpillar were travelling in the same direction when the accident occurred. Officer commanding the Cayo police formation, Senior Superintendent Chester Williams, gave us the details via phone.

Via Phone: Sr. Supt. Chester Williams, O.C., Cayo Police

“Sometime around nine a.m. this morning the San Ignacio police were called to an accident scene at mile sixty-six and a half. Upon arrival, one Hilbert McKoy, who is a caterpillar operator for the Ministry of Works reported that while driving a caterpillar on the said highway, heading towards Belmopan he suddenly heard a noise to the rear portion of his caterpillar and upon looking back he saw that a grey Ford F-150 pickup had collided into the rear portion of the caterpillar. As a result of the accident, the driver of the Ford F-150, who is one John Pauper, sustained head injuries and was transported to the Belmopan hospital. Accompanying him at the time were four Fiji nationals, one of whom sustained severe facial injuries and was subsequently transferred to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City. The other three persons sustained minor injuries and are currently hospitalized at the San Ignacio town hospital. Police investigations continue.”

Delahnie Bain

“Do you know so far if any of the injuries are life-threatening?”

Via Phone: Sr. Supt. Chester Williams

“From what I was told this morning by the officers who went on the scene, the injuries may not appear to be life threatening but we cannot take things for granted. That will be something that the doctors will have to evaluate during the examination of those injured persons.”

Delahnie Bain

“At this point is it too soon to tell if someone will be charged in connection with this?”

Via Phone: Sr. Supt. Chester Williams

“Like I said, our investigation continues into this matter. We will be looking at what may have caused the incident. As I had mentioned earlier, both vehicles were travelling in the same direction and it is very rare that you hear of a vehicle running into the rear of another one. So something must have gone wrong and we will be looking at that.”

The Ford F-150 was extensively damaged on the front while there were no damages to the caterpillar.