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Nov 25, 2011

2 Colombians dead after Mexican plane crashes near Zoo

When a Super King Air landed on the Southern Highway in November 2010, a massive load Colombian cocaine was found hidden nearby and charges followed for several officers. Another plane fell from the sky in June 2011, on the outskirts of Guinea Grass Village in the Orange Walk district. That plane carried the Mexican flag on the fuselage. No passenger, pilot or cargo was ever found. But on Thursday night from as early as ten, residents on the Western Highway heard the distinctive sound of the engines of a low flying plane, possibly looking for a landing strip. By morning, it was confirmed that the plane had crashed. Both men on board, Colombian Nationals, died on impact.  News Five contacted Minister of Police Dough Singh, who says he has been in contact with senior police officers on the ground but he could not comment. And though the links of Colombian Nationals and a Mexican plane has all the elements associated with narco-trafficking, is it? News Five’s Isani Cayetano visited the scene in Chopper Five.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

At two o’clock this afternoon a team of officers were still processing the scene of a fatal accident involving a single engine turboprop aircraft that crash landed near grassland northwest of mile twenty-eight on the Western Highway.  Sometime around 9:30 on Thursday night residents in the neighboring Mahogany Heights community heard the whirring of an airplane as it hovered dangerously above their homes.  Minutes later they reported hearing a sudden loud noise.  The aircraft carrying two men had crashed in a savannah less than a mile away from the Foster’s residence.

Carol Foster

Carol Foster, Resident

“We had people having dinner over here and we heard this plane very low over the house and we thought this was strange. We wasn’t sure what it was. We carried on eating and we just left it. And about 11:30, the police came and said did we hear a plane crash and we said no, but we heard where the plane was and we have a rode that goes to the back of our house. And we said follow the road and we think it’s back there somewhere, but we are not sure. So he did go around and didn’t find it. And then about 7:30 in the morning, there is a guy who is on the ATV who works with two scientists and they have collared animals back there—he went back there and he went into the bush a little bit and he found a plane with two dead people. Came back here and when he came back here we made the phone call, we called the police and the police in Belmopan came really quickly. That guy went with them back there and showed them.”

Not too far from the scene of the wreckage were the bodies of forty-six year old Hector Velasquez and fifty-seven year old Miguel Rodriguez both Colombian nationals.  The pair had suffered massive injuries and perished in the accident.  Responding to the scene several hours later was a wildlife conservationist who was on a routine tour of the area.

Voice of: First Respondent

“This morning I went to work to check my cameras and thing, driving to the back in my ATV, I saw this white house in the savannah edge. So I wondered who put up another—cause we have a tent out there where we do surveillance with our animals and stuff like that and radio track them. I never even reached my camera site when I saw it was a plane that got the whole pine ridge edge dig up in the savannah. I took a look about ten feet from the area the plane was and I saw a person in the water with his buttocks up and his head is down in the water. So I turned right back immediately and went to Mister Foster, the guy who lives around there, and tell him that a plane had crashed there. He told me I heard it last night but we never knew where it landed. And after that he called the cops and the police they came right after that and I took them there and showed them where the incident happened.

When News Five arrived at the Foster’s residence this morning police had already swarmed the location and the media was barred from venturing beyond this point where two armed officers stood guard.  A few hours later we did our own aerial reconnaissance and found that the badly damaged vessel was being prepared for removal from the scene of the crash.

While the airplane, registered in Mexico, was not found with any illicit cargo, however personal effects belonging to the pilot and his passenger were found including SIM cards, passports as well as global positioning equipment.  Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.

When News Five left the scene police was still looking for any signs of the plane’s cargo. Velasquez died just days short of his November thirtieth birthday.


Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.

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7 Responses for “2 Colombians dead after Mexican plane crashes near Zoo”

  1. Positive says:

    So where did the drugs stay huh? I’m sure if there was any, our trusted police officers took care of the situation.

  2. cali says:

    yes where is the drugs. Look! we cant protect our own national airspace if we had a radar system an airplans/helicopter we could have intercept this aircraft. MR. pm invest in our country security and not yourself

  3. leobardo says:

    both parties in belize dont care about nothing more than themself,and their families.shame on those lawyers as honorable ministers.

  4. belizeanpride says:

    to me these small panes that roam our skies are not drug planes they are used to recognize the areas where bigger planes can land perfectly. this is the second one that has failed in there attempt after the one went awry in orange walk. we’re going to see more of these planes lurking our sky if the gov. doesn’t plan to invest in radars to keep the drug and trespassing our nations sky illegally. we need security and what ever gov . is in place should consider this an emergency need, before our nations turns as an ugly spring board for drug trafficking more than ever.

  5. caybway says:

    the gov. think only of riding in nice and expensive suv instead of investing in a helicopter or good radar systems. yet he had money to buy a million dollar land cruiser to see who is using dish internet and intersept citizens private calls..

    he display real incompetency the best thing for this gov to do is step down…..and the mouth piece for the udp is mr saldivar, almost every day gets on their talk show and make a mokery of the people….i think he fits to be a radio announcer….he does a better job there..

    please stay on the morning show mr. saldiver and pm does a good job on insulting his soldiers on local tv….

    go barrow go barrow…..

    i vote red but its a big mistake – its like i did not vote any at all..
    their days are numbered

  6. hmm says:

    to Belizean Pride. the planes are drug related. they don’t scour the skies at night to look for a landing spot. that is worked out on the ground by well oiled machinery. there are illicit persons related tot eh drug industry that are on these planes. it is confirmed.

  7. corporal says:

    I think Barrow is smart, he knows the country needs the money these guys bring so he doesn’t do anything about it. I can tell you that at least 10% of jobs in Belize is created by this trade. Why cut it off

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