Mourners view casket at Bliss and Price Center

It is estimated that in the range of eleven thousand persons visited the flag draped casket of first Prime Minister George Price in a period of sixteen hours at the Bliss and at the Price Centre for Peace and Development in Belmopan. From as early as six in the morning on Saturday the crowd began to gather behind the Bliss. News Five’s Delahnie Bain reports.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

The early morning rain on Saturday did not deter Belizeans from lining the streets to witness the B.D.F. led procession, transferring the body of the Right Honorable George Price to the Bliss Center, where it would lie in state during the day. Price was transported in open hearse from the KHMH Morgue to the Bliss, where he was carried inside on the shoulders of six soldiers. In the viewing area, B.D.F. officers reverently stood guard as visitors came to pay their respects.

Major Lloyd Jones

“You have four commissioned officers in this case who will stand post at the four corners of the coffin. They would have their swords drawn in reverse order with their heads bowed.”

The line of city residents extended all the way into the Bliss Parking lot and the visitors included Taiwanese Ambassador, David Wu, and one of Price’s old friends, the well known Sir Andie.

David Wu, Taiwanese Ambassador

“He has long been a strong friend of Taiwan, we regard his not only as the national hero of Belize but also a very long friend of Taiwan. It was he who established the diplomatic relationship with Taiwan when he was Prime Minister and until now we appreciate his friendship given to Taiwan and I was very privileged to visit him twice early this year.  As the Ambassador of Taiwan, representing my country, I would like to pay him the highest respect and appreciation to this great leader of Belize. May God bless him. His soul will rest in the chest of Jesus Christ forever.”

Sir Andie

Sir Andie

“He had a dream or a vision and it started with the flag, it started with a prayer and he used the Land of the Gods, he used to sing that out at Battlefield and [said] this wah be wi anthem. He was true to his belief so I also believe that he was a giant of a man in a humble body.”

Several other visitors spoke on the significance of taking the opportunity to pay their respects to the national hero.

Hipolito Bautista

Hipolito Bautista

“He had this collection of books and he took one of those books out of his collection and he gave it to me and I’m very grateful for that. But overall, Mr. Price was a man with a purpose, a man with determination and throughout the years I met him while I was at Radio Belize as an announcer, as a news man and later on as a program producer. I worked with him and found that he didn’t have any time to waste. I don’t think there was a minute or a second that he wasted of his life.”

At least five thousand persons came out to bid farewell to the Right honorable George Price at the Bliss Center. On Sunday the body laid in repose at the Price Center in Belmopan where another six thousand persons are estimated to have visited before the Father of the Nation was laid to rest on Monday. Delahnie Bain for News Five.

George Price died last Monday due to a head injury he suffered when he fell at his home on Pickstock Street. His death unified the nation during the period of mourning.