Breaking News: Five drown in Mopan River

We start tonight’s newscast with a tragic report just in to our newsroom. And that is that five persons have fallen victims to the rising waters of the Mopan River in the Cayo District. Full details of the incident are yet to be ascertained, but it appears that the five persons are from the village of Arenal and had gone shopping in Melchor de Mencos on the Guatemalan side of the border. They were traveling in a canoe that was swept away by the strong currents of the river. According to one eye witnesses, they tried to save the persons but the strong currents prevented them. The owner of the canoe was able to make it to the shores. A search and rescue team has been deployed to the area. There is also another late report that one more body has been found in the Calla Creek area of the Cayo District which would mean that the number of victims in Belize is rising quickly.

Earlier this week, on Wednesday, to Nigerians drowned in the Sittee River. Their identities of the first two persons who succumbed to the flood waters from Tropical Depression Sixteen have been revealed. The body of a woman wearing long brown jeans pants, a long sleeve brown blouse and a pair of black shoes, believed to be Nigerian National, Mujeedat Olasunbo Biobaku, was found about six hundred yards from the Kendall Causeway. The search team also recovered two suitcases containing Nigerian passports issued to Biobaku and Adulgafar Taye Bello. The search continues for the man believed to be Bello. The couple was travelling in a chartered canoe and were believed be heading to Punta Gorda when the canoe capsized. Only the owner, thirty-seven year old Carlos Balona, survived the incident. No charges have been made against Balona who was believed to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Tropical Depression Sixteen has also taken many other lives throughout the region. Fourteen deaths have been reported in Honduras, six from Costa Rica, four from Nicaragua, three from Guatemala.