Father and daughter killed in road accident

A traffic accident on the Western Highway this morning has resulted in the death of a man and his infant daughter. Reports to News Five are that just after eleven this morning a two-door Chevy pickup truck was heading from Belize City to the Guatemalan border, but as it neared the curve near George Price Boulevard at Belmopan, the driver lost control and the vehicle overturned several times. Eleven month old Martha Barrera, who was sitting in her mother’s lap in the cab without a seatbelt, was flung from the truck resulting in severe injuries. Her father, thirty-six year old Juan Francisco Barrera, was travelling in the pan at the time of the accident and also sustained serious head and body injuries. The victims were rushed to the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan by ambulance and the police. Juan Barrera was pronounced dead on arrival and despite attempts by doctors to resuscitate the child, she also died a short time later. The baby’s mother, Martha Aragon, and two others suffered minor abrasions, but two more passengers are in serious condition tonight. Thirty-four year old Darwin Monroy was transferred in critical condition to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City this afternoon suffering from a head injury, while thirty-two year Ana Patricia Cannasales underwent surgery in Belmopan earlier this afternoon to repair internal wounds to her abdomen. We understand that the driver of the truck, Andon Pott, is an employee of Belize Medical Associates and will be transferred to that facility from Western Regional with back injuries. As for the cause of the crash, sources tell News Five that a bus was travelling ahead of the Chevy pickup and when Pott attempted to overtake it, another vehicle coming from the other direction forced him to turn back into his lane. That sudden swerve is believed to have led the driver to lose control.