Four Family Members Killed in Head-on Crash in Orange Walk

Traffic accidents remain one of the country’s leading causes of death and over the weekend, tragedy struck when four members of one family from Orange Walk District perished in a head-on collision. The mishap occurred on the Yo Creek/San Antonio Road on Saturday night. What’s worse is that the driver of the other vehicle is also related to the deceased persons and he is now hospitalized for injuries that he sustained during the crash. News Five’s Marion Ali went north to bring you the details in the following report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

A family from Trinidad Village, Orange Walk is devastated after a head-on collision shortly after eight on Saturday night claimed the lives of four of their loved ones. Twenty-seven-year-old Aldair Tillett was driving his Ford Ranger pick-up truck on the Yo Creek/San Antonio Road in the direction from Botes towards Trinidad Village along with his common-law wife, twenty-six-year-old Felicia de la Fuente, their four-year-old daughter, Alisha Tillett, and his sister, eighteen-year-old Janina Tillett that evening. Another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction slammed head-on into them and the impact totaled the Ford Ranger, killing all four of them. For Angelica Vasquez, the pain of losing two children who were close is unbearable.

Angelica Vasquez

Angelica Vasquez, Mother of deceased siblings

“Wherever he goes, he says “Gorda, vamos.” He seh “Four-twenty ah wa come fi yoh.” And when he come it was like ten to five. God nuh give you what you can’t sustain. I just ask him to give me strength.”

Vasquez told News Five that her son ate at her house before inviting his little sister to accompany them. It was his routine to pick up his common-law wife at work and then proceed to do their shopping, she said.

Aldair Tillett & Alisha Tillett

Angelica Vasquez

“Every Saturday he goes and pick her up, do their shopping, take my grandchild to the park and come back.”

The family is at a loss at why the four decided to go to Botes on Saturday since that was something they all planned on as a family for Sunday.

Felicia de la Fuente

Angelica Vasquez

“We talked that we were going on Sunday da Botes – all ah wi because when we go out all ah wi go, the whole family. And I don’t know – they go that evening.”

The Tilletts were just a few miles from home when the accident happened. From the appearance of the scene, the driver of the other pick-up truck, Byron Tillett, reportedly a cousin of the deceased siblings, lost control of his vehicle and veered into the other lane. Byron Tillett is in Northern Regional Hospital with injuries. While survivors of the four who perished prepare the resting place for their loved ones, the siblings’ grieving mother is left reminiscing on  what their plans were.

Janina Tillett

Angelica Vasquez

“My son was saying that this year he was going to finish his house. My daughter was going to Belize School of Agriculture and she said when she finished her fourth form she would be going to Escuela (Secundaria) Mexico fi finish her sixth form. Daily I gwein miss them.”

Baby Alisha Tillett, who had just started kindergarten, would have turned five years old in May. Marion Ali for News Five.