One dead, one critical in Spanish Lookout crash

One brother is dead and another clings to life following a car crash in Spanish Lookout. This afternoon I met with the grieving family.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Nineteen-year-old Jacob Loewen, Junior lies comatose at Universal Health Services. Doctors say it will be a few more days before they know for sure if he will ever be able to breathe on his own. Around seven thirty on Wednesday night, Loewen was driving a Chevy pickup in his village when he apparently lost control and plunged into a creek. The vehicle was found lying in a ditch partially submerged in water. Inside the cab, area residents found Jacob and his brother fifteen-year-old Isaac Loewen. The pair were rushed to La Loma Luz Hospital and later transferred to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but the younger sibling succumbed to his injuries. Today, Jacob Loewen Senior is praying for a miracle that his other son survives.

Jacob Loewen Sr, Father
?He was going home and maybe he moved in centre of the road and lost sight and then turned. That?s what I think. I don?t know. I am not sure.?

A team of doctors including Neurosurgeon Emmanuel Voado, General Surgeon Lisa Johnson and head of Internal medicine Jorge Hidalgo are doing their best to save the young man?s life, but they caution that their patient?s condition is very critical. Dr. Hidalgo says Loewen not only suffered a head injury but because he was underwater for a long time, the lack of oxygen caused severe damage to the brain.

Dr. Jorge Hidalgo, Head
?Well right now he is under sedation. We are planning to wake him up tomorrow and right now we can?t tell you for sure the response because he is presently receiving a treatment to try and reduce the brain swelling and after forty-eight hours, we can have a better idea. Right now he remains under sedation.?