Guy wires cut in sabotage at Radio Krem
The proliferation of broadcasting licenses over the last decade has meant a corresponding increase in the number of tall metal towers that now dot the skyline of Belize City and nearly every district town. But what goes up can also come down… as residents of Partridge Street almost learned the hard way.
Earlier today, if you tried tuning into Krem Radio, and got nothing but static, don’t worry there was nothing wrong with your radio, it was the radio station that was in trouble. Swaying one hundred and eighty foot high in the sky was the station’s transmitting tower. The tower, which is held up by three different sets of support cables, was threatening to topple over when one set of those cables somehow became detached from its anchor.
Marshall Nunez, Manager, Krem Radio
“In fact if you can observe, the tower is leaning to one side right now and it is swaying in the wind. When we looked at it this morning, it was discovered by one of our security this morning. They observed that the main anchor was cut that would pose major danger, in fact it is a disaster if that tower would fall. The high tension wire it definitely would have caused a fire and if you look at the proximity of the residents in this area, it would have caused a major, major disaster.”
To prevent a disaster from occurring on Partridge Street, the station’s management quickly called in technicians to try and secure the tall steel structure. Already dangling some ninety feet in the air was the station’s low power antenna used for outside broadcasting. The antenna apparently broke away, as the tower swung from side to side in this morning’s high gusts of wind.
Marshall Nunez
“Well the technicians have been brought in and in fact, in the meantime what they had to do, to brace the cable to a vehicle and have the vehicle park and that is what is presently bracing the tower.”
The technicians as well had to replace the old anchor with a temporary one, to which the loose cables were attached. This work, however, is far from over, as all the support cables will need to be retensioned. While at this time it is not certain as to how the cable broke, the station’s manager, Marshall Nunez believes it was deliberately cut sometime between Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Marshall Nunez
“We believe it is something criminal. It is not an accident; the cable did not just break loose, it was cut and as I said that is a major criminal offense. I don’t know if we could find who did that.”
“Jackie there are a lot of things taking place that you don’t know about and people, especially the government have the tendency to speak out about Krem advocating violence, but we think in fact that that is a violent act done against now.”
“But you are not saying that the government had anything to do with?”
“We are not saying that, but we think it is a criminal offense.”
Earlier this afternoon, after the emergency work was completed, the station came back on air. Tonight, however, broadcasters around the country will be sleeping with one eye open, knowing just how vulnerable their operations are to an evil mind and a sharp hacksaw blade.
Police are investigating the incident. In the only previous crime of this nature the Radio Belize tower near Pallotti was sent tumbling down by saboteurs in the 1970’s. No one was hurt.
