Bizarre bus accident leaves 2 dead
Two families in the Belize District are in mourning tonight following a bizarre traffic accident on the Western Highway. Around seven this morning bus driver Rudolph Moses headed to work as usual. His first passenger was Dave Ramos. But as News Five’s Jacqueline Godwin reports, minutes later, Moses would be dead and Ramos fatally injured.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Thirty-one-year old Rudolph Moses Junior had just left his home at mile nineteen on the Western Highway when between miles seventeen and eighteen, he lost control of his passenger bus. The vehicle ran off to the other side of the road and flipped several times. As the bus turned over, Moses, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered severe head injuries and died on the spot.
Matthew Moses says they got the bad news fifteen minutes later.
Matthew Moses Sr., Brother of Deceased
“And when I get there, the man dead. As I gone deh the man lay down inna the bus bruk up. His whole face scrape off. Dah like wah blood bath, like the bus tek ah and beat his body all around inna the bus. Blood deh all about; brains deh all about too.”
The only passenger on board the bus at the time was Dave Ramos. Concerned motorists found Ramos lying on the ground in an unconscious state.
Matthew Moses Sr.
“On the side of the road inna the bush noh di move none at all, noh di breathe, noh di seh nothing. When I get deh some B.D.F. di push wah hose down his throat and dah so he start to breathe lee bit, they feel ih pulse and he come back.”
The victim was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he remains in a critical condition. Back at the scene, police and traffic officers inspected the vehicle in an attempt to determine what caused the accident. According to Matthew Moses, his brother had been driving for National Intransit Services for two months and had complained about a number of mechanical problems.
Matthew Moses Sr.
“Lot of times. Every time he come home, he tell me, bredda, me and yuh dah bredda, but sometimes I believe I noh wah come home because this bus dah problems and I tell di man them over and over. They give me a bus today, they tek weh mi bus and they give me another bus. He seh, so I noh know, but I wah mek the money because I need fi mek the money. That dah the only way he wah put food pan ih table or go other ways on the street because yuh could goh other ways, but yuh noh want to go dah way, yuh try live honest. Dah honest kill the man.”
Jacqueline Godwin
“What you believe happen?”
Matthew Moses Sr.
“I believe the steering wheel, because the steering wheel got a problem. When the man turn it never return back and when he try fi ketch the steering wheel back, the vehicle flipped out. And he haul his brakes, seh ih mi wah get back straight and his vehicle flip after that.”
“It noh even have horn seh you wah blow somebody. It noh even have horn fi blow somebody. Sometimes you haul the brakes, the brakes noh hold none at all, you have to hold the air brakes, the air brakes noh hold none at all.”
The company is owned by the Novelo family’s National Transport Services. Today, operation manager Philip Jones told News Five police investigations continue and that while he does not want to speculate on the cause of the incident, he assures the general public that their buses are safe and roadworthy.
Philip Jones, Operations Mgr., National Transportation Services Limited
“That is our number one priority, because then we are carrying special cargo, which is passengers. But whatever mechanical problem or equipment it may have, it come through the operation department, we have someone check it, and from there we forward it to the chief mechanic and from there he supervise and whenever that bus is roadworthy then it goes back on the route.”
“I had no reports recently from the driver in regards to any mechanical problem because whenever they have a problem they go through the operation and then from there we to the garage section where they go through and service the bus.”
“We have a serious maintenance policy in terms of brakes and lights and things like that. I am not certain if it does have a seatbelt, but our buses are fresh buses. We recently get them from the States, so it’s a recent bus.”
The bus was used to shuttle passengers between Hattieville and Belize City.
Philip Jones
“My condolence to the family; this is the first time we lose a driver while here at National, so my heart goes out. He is a family member with National, close friend of mine, and he will be missed, but we will assist the family.”
Sources tell News Five that a heavy rain just before the accident had produced slippery conditions that could have caused the driver to lose control. Other reports suggest Moses may have been distracted by phone calls made to him concerning his sick child. Jacqueline Godwin for News Five.
Dave Ramos sustained critical injuries to his head and body and was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. According to police, he died around one this afternoon while undergoing medical treatment.
