Bus turns over, but only minor injuries
The first reports raised fears that it was a tragedy on the magnitude of January’s fatal crash on the Western Highway. But fortunately, while the sight of the overturned bus looked bad, in the end even the worst injuries were relatively minor. Jacqueline Woods reports.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The Novelos bus was carrying twenty-nine passengers when the driver lost control of the vehicle near mile thirteen on the Western Highway. The bus flipped and ended up on its side just a short distance from a high-tension pole. Roysten Rochester, who suffered a minor chest injury, says they first heard a loud noise and saw the bus driver, Oscar Cruz, fight to control the vehicle as it violently swerved across the highway.
Roysten Rochester, Bus Passenger
“I was in the bus with the crowd of people on my way to Hattieville, going back to work. And as the bus approached this location, all what I heard was a noise like something pop inna the front and then I see the driver struggling trying to control the bus. And as that happen, everybody inna the bus start to shout and then the bus start tek off the road and it went straight off the road until it overturned over here. We had a guy who was knocked out cold and we had some other people, some females who were hurt bad. I get hurt over my chest and also in my back. So what happen, the police give me three sick form and I just going by the K.H.M.H. to let them check it out see if I get any bad hurt or whatsoever.”
The police, Fire and Rescue Team and the Belize Emergency Response Team quickly arrived on the scene. A total of four passengers received minor injuries that ranged from a broken shoulder to bruises and knocks.
Chris Noble, O.C Hattieville Police Station
“From what we can see, the driver my have lost control of the bus. It is a good thing that he had no other obstruction in the road veering off to my right and injuring some person. We can’t see any serious injuries at this time, but that is something we will need to look at with the medica1 authorities.”
Preliminary investigations reveal that the loud noise heard coming from under the bus was a leaf breaking off the vehicle’s front left spring. David Novelo, the chief executive officer for Novelos Bus Company, strongly suspects it was this mechanical fault that caused the accident.
David Novelo, C.E.O., Novelos Bus Company
“We have our chief mechanic here doing an analysis of what actually happened. What we have seen on the immediate right now is that we had a faulty spring blade that cracked. If you notice, the spring blade basically clamps down…one of the scenarios when a spring blade like this would tend to pop, you lose control. We were concerned, they said it was the front tires, but the mechanic has to go through the bus. It had just recently came out of the garage where we did the brakes, the front tires. And what we can attribute the accident at this time now is the front spring blade cracking. Our most concern right now is that we have been informed that there were two people that were minor injured and they are currently at the Belize City hospital, so we have some of our human relations staff addressing that as well. I believe that there was two or three tourists as well that are okay, they are at the Hattieville hospital, so we have some staff members dealing with that was well.”
Jacqueline Woods
“How many passengers were on board?”
David Novelo
“Twenty-nine passengers were on board the bus.”
Jacqueline Woods
“And those who got hurt, you’re saying it was only minor injuries?”
David Novelo
“It was only minor, by the grace of God. So we gonna be doing an analysis, but the most important thing right now is to address the passengers that got injured, so that’s what we’re doing at this time.”
The bus had departed Belize City at 10:00 a.m. and was en route to Cayo when the accident occurred. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
