Another Tourist Dies in Separate Road Traffic Accident

A red Ford van carrying a family of American tourists on Thursday afternoon flipped several times on the Philip Goldson Highway in the Orange Walk District. Seventy-seven-year-old Carolyn Moxley Gillis, a resident from the state of Georgia, was flung out of the vehicle between miles forty-one and forty-two. She died instantly. Also in the van were seventy-nine-year-old John Gillis, who received injuries to the right ear, an abrasion to his left hand and bruises to the right arm, forty-five-year-old John Milton Gillis Jr. who received minor injuries to the left arm, forty-three-year-old Lynette Gillis who received abrasions to the back, and ten-year-old Mary Claire Louise Gillis who complained of pain to her neck and head. Ten-year-old Caroline Gillis and thirteen-year-old Rylan Gillis both complained of injuries to the neck and back.  Driving the van was taxi operator Henry Gillett, who according to police, lost control of the vehicle after suffering a blowout.

Joseph Myvett

ACP Joseph Myvett, Head, National Crime Investigation Branch

“What the police know so far is that the van at the time was being driven by Henry Gillett of a Belize City address. He had taken a group of tourists somewhere in the north and was returning to Belize City when he apparently suffered a blow out to the right rear tire which caused him lose control and the vehicle overturned several times during which Miss Gillis was flung from the vehicle. Several other family members, six to be exact who had also been in the vehicle also received varying degrees of injuries. Some of them are hospital at the Northern Regional Hospital along with Mr. Gillett. He has so far been served with a notice of intended prosecution.”

Gillett has been released from the hospital.