Two dead as buses collide on Northern Highway
The stretch of the Northern Highway between the Haulover Bridge and airport cutoff is a picturesque route which winds its way along a narrow ribbon of land between the blue Caribbean Sea and the greenish brown Belize River. But on Saturday morning the primary color on this vital road was red, as a bloody head on collision between two buses near mile six left two dead and dozens injured. News Five’s Arreini Palacio and Rick Romero were on the scene of the carnage and filed the following report.
Patricia Rhaburn, Passenger, Jex Bus
“I just hear the thing gone boom, like that, and I know all a we done dead.”
That was only the beginning of the nightmare. It was a quarter past eleven on Saturday morning when a Jex and Sons Bus, travelling toward Crooked Tree, suffered a fatal blowout of it’s left front tire. At that same moment, coming in the opposite direction was a Williamson Industry bus, making its way toward Belize City.
Alvin Smith, Conductor
“Well we get up from a blow out and a next bus mid di come di other way and we just collide into it.”
Ricky Burns, Passenger, Jex Bus
“The driver did not have time to panic. The driver did not have anymore control of the bus. When that happens the whole steering is gone, you don’t have steering anymore.”
Both buses careened off the road as panic-stricken passengers tried to get off.
Patricia Rhaburn
“I squeeze through wan hole and I don’t know how I get through because dah wan small space but I get them out of the bus and I tek the baby out and I see they bad. I tell them to sit there and they sit pan the ground.”
Ricky Burns
“After the accident me and the corporal tried to keep calm and get the most wounded out of the bus and that is what we did. And some people were trapped, their legs were trapped so that is what we did after the accident.”
And within half-hour ambulances and police officers were on the scene. Dazed and confused passengers made their way toward Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where emotional relatives eagerly awaited word on their loved ones. According to the Hospital Press Officer, Joan Burke, authorities were on hand to oversee the situation.
Joan Burke, Hospital Press Officer
“Based on the response I think they were very prepared. Within an hour to an hour and a half we had everything under control. They went through the triage exercise, where we put patients into the different areas. Green is the area for minor injuries and yellow for the more critical injuries. Even the medical staff on day off came in today.”
Sixty passengers were taken to the hospital. Thirty-eight received medical attention and were released to relatives, relieved to have made it out alive. Two, however, were not so fortunate: Jennifer Hewlitt a worker at Williamson and James Lightburn Jr. the driver of the Jex bus were killed by the sudden impact. Lightburn’s father who was also a passenger on the bus along with his wife, would have done anything to save his son.
James Lightburn, Father of Deceased
“But I pick up his head and the way he was breathing I said he is not going to make it and I have little experience with people dead and animal dead, and so I lift his eyes and said oh no you done travel already, you definitely gone already.”
Police investigation into the accident continues. Arreini Palacio for News Five.
The four most seriously injured passengers remain in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Three, including one child, are in stable condition, while the status of the other has been called “guarded” by hospital officials. Calford Perez, the driver of the Williamson Industries bus, was treated and released on Saturday afternoon.
