Three dead as van and bus collide
It came in as a last minute bulletin on last night’s newscast, but it was not until today that the full impact of the tragic road accident was felt by the nation. Tonight, three people are dead and a fourth is barely hanging on in the hospital. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has the details.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Debris from the Dodge Caravan that carried four members of the Thiessen family from the Mennonite Community of Spanish Lookout, remain scattered along the roadside at mile twenty-one on the Western Highway. Inside the minivan were husband and wife, sixty-nine year old Gerhard and sixty-four year old Dora Thiessen, their daughter, forty-four year old Martha Reimer and her seventeen year old son Dwayne Reimer.
Ernest Thiessen, Nephew of Deceased
“The family was travelling to Belize City apparently to see doctor. Mr. Thiessen had gotten something in his eye and they wanted to see the doctor at six.”
But sometime between five-fifteen and five-thirty, the van, driven at the time by Dwayne, crashed into a Linea Dorada bus from Guatemala. The bus, driven at the time by Francisco Mayen, had eight passengers on board, five tourists and two Belizeans, and was headed west toward the border. One of those Belizean passengers, Josephine Bowen, says she was three seats behind the driver when she saw him suddenly grab hold of the steering wheel.
Josephine Bowen, Accident Victim
“The driver mention something then I see him put a grip on the wheel. Then when he put a grip on the wheel, then I conscious and say, well you know, maybe something wah happen, then he gone on the side.”
According to police, the bus driver was travelling behind a white pickup truck when the pickup’s bonnet flew open. The driver of the truck apparently braked hard… and to avoid crashing into the back of it, the bus driver swerved into the left lane, right into the path of the oncoming Dodge Caravan. To avoid a head on collision, the bus driver then swerved back into his lane in front of the pickup truck, but it was too late. The Dodge smashed into the bus and the bus’s rear end clipped the pickup truck.
Josephine Bowen
“Well everybody was frightened and scared. And at that time the driver was trying to open the bus door because it was jammed for a while. And when he opened it he made everybody come out and he asked us if everybody was okay, we tell him yes, only my foot and my back. We had some tourists on the bus that tend to me because my back hurt. They put me to sit down then half an hour after that I get up then I noticed that a next vehicle in the accident too.”
The Dodge Caravan, which ended up off the right hand side of the road, was extensively damaged. Gerhard and Dora Thiessen lay dead inside the vehicle while their grandson, Dwayne, remained trapped and clinging to life behind the steering wheel. His mother Martha was badly injured in the back seat. Although people on the scene tried to free Reimer from the wreck, he succumbed to his injuries.
According to Ernest Thiessen, his uncle Gerhard was the community’s religious leader and will be surely missed.
Ernest Thiessen
“He is the preacher of the church, he has been the leader of the church, all the churches, the church from where he is join together and try to pull through the hardship, supporting the rest of the family. It is very hard on those left behind because the mother and the father passed away the same time and the grandson.”
Meanwhile, Martha Reimer remains in a critical condition at Universal Health Services.
Ernest Thiessen
“She is still in a coma. The last time the doctor gave us information, he said that she is still in a coma, slightly responding to pain stimuli, but we are not out of the bush as the doctor said. She has a chance to survive, but the chances are depending on her condition. She is in a stable condition, but she is very critical.”
Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
The police say the bus driver, Francisco Mayen, will be charged with three counts of manslaughter, three counts of causing death by careless conduct, driving without due care and attention and failure to keep on the right hand side of the road. In a similar type accident on January twentieth, six people perished following a collision at mile twenty-eight.
