Mennonite boy dies in accident

The Mennonite communities of Belize have a well-deserved reputation as places where the ethic of hard work reigns supreme. And that attitude extends to the entire family, with the very young to very old joining in the productive effort. The downside of that otherwise commendable trait, however, is that sometimes tragic accidents occur on the job. And that is what apparently happened on Thursday morning in the settlement of Shipyard in the Orange Walk District. According to police reports, 10-year-old Peter Banman and a younger brother were riding as passengers on a tractor being driven by their 13 year old brother Abram. When they reached the vicinity of Camp Ten the youngest of the boys informed Abram that Peter had fallen off. The injured boy was rushed to Orange Walk hospital, but was declared dead on arrival. A postmortem determined that Peter Banman had died of a skull fracture.