Three cyclists hit, one dead

In Orange Walk an eleven-year-old girl was killed near her home in Buena Vista Village, following a collision between a bus and a truck. Bus driver, thirty-five year-old Victor Perez, reported to police that sometime around eight on Saturday night, he was heading in a northerly direction between miles seventy and seventy-one when he noticed that the white truck had suddenly emerged into his path from a cut off to his right. Perez said he could not stop and slammed into the truck, which then hit two oncoming vehicles, before running off the road and knocking down Eva Quinonez, who was riding her bicycle. The child died while being transported to the Northern Regional Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, another road mishap, this time on the Western Highway, has left three people hospitalised. Police report that sixteen-year-old Oneida Chavin and her uncle, thirty-four year old Luis Chavin, were riding bikes on the highway around eight on Friday night when they were knocked to the ground from behind. The driver of the vehicle, fifty-four year old Harold Vernon, told police that he was blinded by the lights of an oncoming vehicle. Vernon said that he swerved off the road to avoid a head-on collision and ran right into the cyclists whom he did not see. The Chavins were brought to Belize City for CAT-scans today and returned for continued treatment to the Belmopan Hospital. They are listed in stable condition. Meanwhile Vernon, who wound up in a roadside ditch, is said to be in serious, but stable condition. No charges have been filed thus far.