Newlyweds crash into Belize River; wife drowns

The life of a thirty-one year old Atlantic Bank employee was cut short on Sunday morning as she and her husband headed to Belize City. The husband was behind the wheel of the vehicle, which lost control and plunged into the Belize River. He managed to pull himself out of the waters, but his wife was trapped inside the vehicle that was retrieved hours later from the thirty feet deep waters. News Five’s Jose Sanchez has a report of this tragic accident.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting
A white Toyota 4-Runner rolled into the Belize River at about ten a.m. between mile six and seven on the Northern Highway. The driver of the vehicle was thirty-three year old Odway Flowers and his passenger was his wife of five months, Kendra Smith-Flowers. The Los Lagos couple was heading to Belize City to visit friends. About a minute behind them was Belize City resident Steffie Lupp who was returning from the airport. Lupp saw the vehicle as it began to submerge in the river.

Steffie Lupp, Saved Accident Victim
“When I came around the curve I saw, in this minute, a car drowning in the river. So I stopped went out and the driver came up to the surface. He couldn’t swim really and I think he was in shock too. So I jumped up and tried to help him. Some other people they put rope in the water, so he took it and they pulled him out.”

Jose Sanchez
“The driver was already out of the vehicle or did you pull him out?”

Steffie Lupp
“No, I saw how he came up to the surface when I came up from my car.”

Jose Sanchez
“So you jumped in?”

Steffie Lupp
“Yes.”

Jose Sanchez
“You know the currents were strong?”

Steffie Lupp
“I didn’t know, I saw only dark water but when the guy told me his wife was still in the water and she has her seatbelt on, it’s normal to go in and try to help. But I didn’t know how deep the water was or how strong the current was. He was not a good swimmer and he was totally under shock. I wouldn’t expect that person who is in shock to jump in the water again to help his wife.”

Though the river was thirty feet deep, Lupp jumped back in when she realized that Kendra was still in the vehicle.

Steffie Lupp
“Many times. But I had no chance.”

Jose Sanchez
“You couldn’t reach the vehicle at that point? It was sinking.”

Steffie Lupp
“When I went down under the surface, the current took me and pulled me away. So I realized I have no chance to dive deep.”

Ryan Scott, U.S. Army Diver
“We knew there was a vehicle in the water so we came down here with the equipment to help out. We pulled out they kinda told us where it went off so we just got on the boat and kinda came up with a plan real quick on how to recover it and how to search for it.”

The coast guard and other vessels came to help, but they could not do much. U.S. army divers training with the B.D.F. and BATSUB were called in.

Joe Rivera, U.S. Army Diver
“We got out here and we talked to Gary and his wife. There were divers on the scene already and they were diving for an hour already. We just jumped in the water, forward of where the car went in and drifted right down on it right away in like four, five minutes, easy.”

Jose Sanchez
“Did you see anyone in the vehicle at that point?”

Joe Rivera
“No, it was poor visibility. It was probably like a foot of visibility; very dark. We found the vehicle, found the tire, and the lift point, they brought the crane in and swam back down and hooked around a tire and came back up and they did the rest.”

Jose Sanchez
“Would anyone without any training be able to help this female who passed away?”

Ryan Scott
“Without training? It’s pretty far down. It’s about thirty feet deep, so swim down and pull somebody out of the water that deep would be pretty hard.”

Jose Sanchez
“And what about the currents?”

Ryan Scott
“The currents are pretty strong. If you’re not weighted you’re gonna float.”

Jose Sanchez
“It was dark with strong currents, and you essentially put your life in danger, do you realize that?”

Steffie Lupp
“Not really in this moment, If I see somebody who needs help, I’ll do it.”

There were at least fifteen men on the side of the river after the accident, the professional divers say it was risky for anyone to jump in.

Ryan Scott
“Not necessarily, it would be dangerous and possibly jeopardize more lives, their own. So unless people with special equipment get on the scene, it’s best to just let them handle it.”

Steffie Lupp
“For me it was a little traumatic because all the time, thirty minutes you could see the bubbles on the surface and I realize there is somebody in the car fighting for her life. And this is hard and after an hour I went home.”

Jose Sanchez
“If it weren’t for you there would be two persons passing away. You do realize you’re a hero.”

Steffie Lupp
“No I’m not a hero, I would do it. I would do it all the time.”

Friends of SJC Alumni Association, of which Flowers is a member, retained the services of attorney Arthur Saldivar because it is now a police matter and speculation is rampant about the cause of the accident.

Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for Odway Flowers
“The police are conducting an investigation into the accident. I would want to have anybody who is concerned to give the police the chance to put together whatever they may find in terms of facts concerning or surrounding this accident and to appreciate the fact that Mister Flowers was involved in a situation that none of us would have like to be involved in. There have been stories, I understand—I haven’t really heard them—and for the most part, in terms of Mister Flowers he had been sedated at the medical facility he was at. And he basically is still suffering from the effects of the experience. Persons may have allowed the emotions to get to them but I would chalk it up to that. My client has no story. This is a tragic situation, Jose. You’re talking about a young man who was recently married, who now faces the grim reality of having lost his wife. This, by no means, is something that I would want to have sensationalized. For all intent and purposes, I went out and I saw the area. There was no indication of no speeding or anything of the sort. For some reason he lost control of the vehicle he was driving.”

The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, but it has highlighted the need for guard rails on the narrow curves of the Northern Highway. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.

Smith-Flowers died from drowning, but the circumstances of the accident are still under investigation.