Road mishaps leave three dead

A Belize City family is mourning the loss of two of its youngest members following a deadly traffic accident on the Southern Highway on Sunday. Thirty-nine year old Dennis Burke told police that around three-thirty on Sunday afternoon he and his family were travelling in a van, heading to Belize City following a trip to Placencia. Burke told police that when he reached an area between miles one and two on the Southern Highway, the vehicle’s front left tire blew out. The resulting imbalance caused him to lose control of the vehicle and it overturned. Nine-year-old Darwin and eleven-year-old Annisa Burke sustained severe head and body injuries and were pronounced dead on arrival at the Southern Regional Hospital in Dangriga. Burke’s wife and another passenger received minor injuries. Burke, who was driving, was hospitalised at the K.H.M.H. with a fractured collarbone and other injuries, but was discharged on Monday morning.

One man is dead and another is in Police custody in the Corozal District following a traffic accident on Sunday night. According to Police, initial investigations are that thirty-five year old Antonio Vela of Ranchito Village was riding his bicycle on the side of the road around ten p.m. when he was reportedly knocked down by forty-eight year old Julio Escalante. Escalante, of Santa Rita Heights in Corozal Town, was travelling from Ranchito in the direction of the town in a Ford Ranger pickup at the time of the accident. Vela was pronounced dead on arrival at Corozal Hospital. Charges against Escalante are pending.