Accident on W. Hwy claims five lives

Five people are dead and two have been seriously injured in a traffic accident on the Western Highway. According to witnesses, around nine this morning an Isuzu pick-up travelling at high speed went out of control and skidded into a group of passengers, who had gathered on the side of the road after their bus broke down. The resulting carnage, according to News Five’s Alyssa Noble, was heartbreaking.

Fromi Daly, only surviving passenger
?I just wanted to fainted on the spot, but because I had my baby in my hand I just got right back into the bus and sit down right back. I couldn?t say anything. I just got right back into the bus and sit down right back.?

Alyssa Noble, Reporting
Twenty-nine year old Fromi Daly and her five month old baby were two of seven passengers on a commute to Belize City, when the James Line bus they were riding on, experienced a breakdown near Mile 39 on the Western Highway.

Fromi Daly
?I was sitting inside the bus with my baby and the conductor told everybody to get out of the bus because there was a problem with the bus, and that another bus was coming to pick us up to take us to Belize City. But it was drizzling a little bit, and I didn?t come out of the bus at the same time with my baby, I sat in the bus for a while. And everybody else from the bus came off the bus and stand right in front of the bus. And there was this green vehicle coming, like going towards Belmopan and the vehicle was coming under a speed. And when it hit a bump it brakes hard and the speed that the vehicle came under make the vehicle turn over and when the vehicle turned over, it slammed into the bus and it slammed everybody into the bus. And at the same time I was getting up to come outside the vehicle slammed into the bus, I sat down back on my seat and when I looked through the window I saw the vehicle, the green vehicle on the side and I turned over and said ?Oh my God, somebody dead!? When I got up and came out of the bus, I saw all of the bodies on the ground lying down, and there were three people who were still alive. One little boy died on the spot but there was three people who were still alive. I guess the ambulance took too long to come, and by the time the ambulance came, everybody died.?

But according to Roland Tillett, a conductor on the ill fated bus, those five passengers didn?t come off the bus because they were asked to, but because they wanted to see what was wrong. That?s when they were knocked over like bowling pins.

Roland Tillett, Conductor
?We left Dangriga seven o?clock this morning en route to Belize City. And upon reaching Mile 39, we noticed that the bus had a problem that the oil pressure had dropped. So we decided to pull off the road to see what was actually the problem or thing like that noh. And while we pulled to the side, our driver came out and I came behind assisting him, and it was then that the passengers came out to see what was the problem noh. And I was bending down looking under the bus when I heard the screaming of a tire on the pave and when I stand up and look at round, it was then I saw a vehicle coming towards the bus, di skate. I just told my passengers to get out of the way, so they ran that way and I ran towards the back of the bus and that?s how come I escaped unhurt noh. And when I noticed, it was six passengers on board and there was five of them were dead.?

Alyssa Noble
?Was the driver of the bus ok??

Roland Tillett
?He had his ankle hurt, but it was nothing serious. But he still went to the hospital.?

The driver of the bus, forty-six year old Herman Williams of Elridgeville, Toledo, was underneath the front of the vehicle, making repairs when the green Isuzu pickup, belonging to the Ministry of Health, collided with the commuters. While Williams was not seriously hurt, the same could not be said about the driver of the pickup, Cuban doctor, Carlos Fernandez and his wife, also a Cuban doctor, who sustained more severe wounds. Both were rushed to the Western Regional Hospital where they are being treated.

Alyssa Noble, reporting for News Five.

According to police the dead are Isabela Flores, Devon Flores, Duncan Smith, Hebias Ibanis and Celestia Guy. In addition to the injured bus driver and occupants of the pick-up, fifteen year old bus passenger Francis Flores remains in the K.H.M.H. with damage to his right leg.