Driver of B.D.F. truck traumatized by crash

Former area representative Michael Hutchinson, who was also traveling to Belize City came upon the scene of the accident shortly afterwards.  According to Hutchinson, the driver of the pickup truck was visibly shaken up following the ordeal.

Michael Hutchinson, Witness

“Well I was just coming along, heading towards Belize City and I passed this scene here and I saw some guys out here.  A bus was parked there with some people going, I guess, to Orange Walk.  I looked back in my rearview mirror and I saw some men coming out of the river with their clothes on so my mind said, you know, this is La Ruta Maya time so they are practicing.  But when I looked I saw a guy with his full suit on with his shoes and everything all wet so I said no this is something else and so when I turned back to investigate I found out that the guys dehn [mi di] avoid a head-on collision and they were clipped by a container truck.  The truck has already left and their vehicle went into the river but praise God the five men managed to swim out of the river safely.  They lost some of their documents, their laptops, their boots and everything.  Their truck is still in the river but they are alive.  So it could have been worse but thank God the guy that was driving really did the correct thing and turned.  If you notice just in between those two trees, missed those two trees completely and went in, dived straight into the river.”

Isani Cayetano

“Did they give you a description of the vehicle they were traveling in?”

Michael Hutchinson

“No they just said it is a military pickup truck. One of their first response was to tell everybody to jump out.  They explained to me also that the doors did not want to open, they become watertight so they managed to swim through the windows, the two guys that were in front.”

News Five understands that B.D.F. personnel have been deployed into the area to recover the submerged vehicle.