Tragic Accident destroys family

The northern part of Belize was on alert for the best part of twenty-four hours due to the approaching Hurricane Rina.  Rina has now diminished to a category one storm and we’ll have full coverage of how residents responded to the threat. But first, there was a terrible accident on the Highway during the lunch hour earlier today.  An SUV carrying a Belmopan businessman and his family from the Corozal Free Zone flipped several times at mile sixteen in the Sand Hill area.  When Xin Yu Jiang lost control of the vehicle, his wife, Ning Jiang Cuiyo and a four month old infant were flung out of the vehicle and onto the roadside. The mother died instantly and the baby is in critical condition. News Five’s Jose Sanchez was at the scene of the mishap.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting

This ambulance that pulled up to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital carried a father and a husband with a broken hand whose heart, no doctor can fix. His wife is dead and his four-month-old daughter clings to life. According to the police, the Jiang family accident occurred at mile 16 on the Northern Highway.

Fitzroy Yearwood

Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer

“Sometime around 12:45 p.m., police received information of a road traffic accident between mile sixteen and seventeen on the northern highway. On arrival at the scene, police observe a blue Toyota Prado overturned. The driver twenty-eight year old Chinese businessman and his wife, a twenty-eight year old Chinese businesswoman who had severe head and body injuries. Apparently she died on the spot. Police transported this businessman to the hospital where they learnt that passersby  transported the four month old female child that belonged to the couple who is undergoing treatment presently at the Karl Heusner in critical condition. This child had received severe head and body injuries also.”

Eyewitnesses describe the accident as tragic.

Voice of: Brian Galvez, Eyewitness

“When I was coming out from behind my yard, I heard the last flip. I heard about four flips it did and the last one I saw. And about the third flip, the baby and the lady fell out. The lady had a big wound to her head. When I stood by the body, she took about three inhales and she stopped.”

Jose Sanchez

What was the condition of the infant?

Voice of: Brian Galvez, Eyewitness

“I know it was a girl because she was dressed in full pink. Her face was all blue and her head was actually burst.”

Jose Sanchez

“The child was inside the stroller in the back seat?”

Voice of: Brian Galvez, Eyewitness

“No she was on the side of the road about ten feet from the mother.”

Jose Sanchez

“And the father, the male passenger?”

Voice of: Brian Galvez, Eyewitness

“The father, he got a broken hand. His left hand was broken and he was badly hurt.”

On the ground the tell tale signs of their identity included Mexican pesos, ‘small change’ from Xin Yu Jiang’sbusiness in the Free Zone. Under the vehicle were beaded slippers that belonged to Ning JiangCuiyo.  On the side of the road, a pink Mickey Mouse cap, Johnson Baby Powder, a big and a rag, all symbols that show four month old Xy Li Jiang was well loved.

Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood

“We know for a fact that this vehicle was travelling from the Corozal free zone and I believe these people were heading home.”

Jose Sanchez

“Do we know as yet if seatbelts were used in the cases of the mother and the infant?”

Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood

“Jose, it’s too early in the investigation for us to determine all this. Remember the only survivor at this time is the driver and he is undergoing treatment also at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. So we would have to give the doctors time to do their part, then the investigators will be able to have an interview to get a statement from the driver in this accident.”

Voice of: Eyewitness

“I bust round the curve and I see the vehicle di come. I just continue my journey and when I see it look like the man lose control, flip over, the lady fly out and wah lee baby, then ih gone up wah lee bit more and it flip again and then en dup pan the road.”

Jose Sanchez

“Is this an area that normally has accidents? Did you expect an accident out here?”

Voice of: Eyewitness

“Well this will be about the third time an accident happened on this road because it happened to my pa already too. So yeah.”

Jose Sanchez

“The woman and the child, what condition were they in? Did anyone help?”

Voice of: Eyewitness

“Well people try assist, but as she fell out of the vehicle so she land she dead and then the baby mi deh ina bush—unconscious with a burst in her head.”

Jose Sanchez

“Did they have on seatbelts? Was there any airbags that were lose?”

Voice of: Eyewitness

“Well I noh see no airbag, but I noh sure if they mi got on seatbelt because the lady and baby mi done fly out of the vehicle.”

Jose Sanchez

“When it comes to the response time of the police and the ambulance, how was that?”

Voice of: Eyewitness

“Well they take like wah lee twenty to twenty-five minutes the most.”

The police have reported that personal items were stolen from the couple.

Voice of: Brian Galvez, Eyewitness

“About four males, Hispanic descent, helped the driver come out of the vehicle because it was badly smoking and they thought it would have blown so they run for cover in the bushes.”

Jose Sanchez

“Are you ok after what you saw”

Voice of: Brian Galvez, Eyewitness

“Yes sir because it is not the first time that I see an accident.”

A short time later, order was restored to the highway and the pink stroller in the backseat, a painful reminder of the tragedy. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.

Businessman Xin Yu Jiang, was also injured in the accident and is in serious, but stable condition.