A Belize District student is dead tonight after a late night swim went terribly wrong. According to police, around ten-thirty on Saturday night, sixteen year old Richard James Casimiro, a student of Ladyville Technical High School was at a party in Lord’s Bank when he and three other friends decided to go swimming. We understand […]
Belizeans are no strangers to disaster… and while we cannot predict how we’ll react when our turn comes to face adversity, the subject of our next story provides a textbook definition of the term “stiff upper lip.” Moses Flores, Fire Victim ?Anything can happen. Strange things do happen in life and when it happens, you […]
With our news and production departments closed down last week for long overdue digital upgrades, we missed an important story out of Cayo. It involved a terrible tragedy and equally heroic act of courage by a young girl. Janelle Chanona, Reporting Just one hour into Christmas Day, disaster struck at the Garcia home on the […]
Mid-morning traffic ground to a halt today as a butane gas leak on the north side of the city threatened an entire neighbourhood. For more than a few tense moments, the situation was touch and go as officials rushed to secure the scene, because as cameraman Rick Romero and I discovered, just about anything could […]
In a city filled with wooden homes, the sight of thick black smoke rising above rooftops ignites fear in the hearts of many. Such was the case on Saturday afternoon when a fire that began in the bedroom of a guesthouse on the northside of the city threatened an entire neighbourhood. News Five cameraman Rick […]
It has been two weeks since American citizen and retired teacher sixty-eight year old John Dresp went missing at sea during a snorkelling tour at Shark and Ray Alley just off Caye Caulker. Dresp arrived in Belize on the “Norwegian Dream” cruise ship and with his brother and sister in law, Donald and Winifred Dresp, […]
Silence enveloped the municipal airstrip this morning as all traffic came to halt so that hundreds of mourners could gather to pay their respects in the official memorial service for Belizean pilot, Rene Tam. Tam’s plane, The Sofia, belonging to Blancaneaux Lodge, crashed into a ravine in the Mountain Pine Ridge on November eighteenth. His […]
A memorial service will be held on Thursday for the pilot killed in the crash of a Blancaneaux Lodge plane over the weekend. The service for thirty-five year old Rene Tam takes place at the Municipal Airstrip at ten a.m. But instead of wreaths or flowers, mourners are asked to give a contribution to the […]
It was like a scene from a tragic movie: two people on their honeymoon when their plane crashes into a mountainside killing them and their pilot. The search immediately began but bad weather and jungle coverage hampered efforts to recover the aircraft and the bodies. But this sad story is not from a movie and […]
And while the wreckage of the Blancaneaux plane has been found, the same cannot be said for five fishermen who also went missing during the bad weather from Gamma late last week. Today Jacqueline Woods spoke with the sisters of one of the missing men. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Twenty-nine year old Alfredo Pott remains missing […]
The National Meteorological Service has been busy all day closely monitoring the movements of what has now become Tropical Storm Gamma. The system now threatens Belize, especially the coastal areas as it moves west northwest. Chief Meteorologist Carlos Fuller says he wants the public to understand the potential danger of the storm and cautions everyone […]
But before that warning was issued, it seems some boats ventured out to sea. Among them was a boat carrying five fishermen from Sarteneja Village in the Corozal District. Sometime this afternoon, however, they were reported missing somewhere off the Placencia Peninsula Coast. According to authorities, the boat departed sometime this morning but encountered problems […]
Weather could have also been a factor in the disappearance today of a small plane belonging to Blancaneaux Lodge in the Mountain Pine Ridge. The Islander craft named “Sophia” piloted by Belizean Rene Tam and carrying two guests, left the International Airport at ten this morning. According to the Civil Aviation Department, the last radio […]
While the search is on for three missing persons aboard a private plane and five men on a fishing vessel, a man who disappeared Thursday while snorkelling in Shark Ray Alley off Caye Caulker is still missing. And today it is looking more and more like weather was a factor. Unfortunately, due to bad weather […]
Just a couple weeks ago, four divers disappeared in the waters off Placencia when their boat experienced engine trouble and they tried to swim for a caye. American Abigail Brinkman died sometime during that three day ordeal. Tonight another American is missing. This time, it is a cruise ship visitor who was part of a […]
For the third time in less than four weeks, officials are engaged in a search and rescue mission at sea. Details remain sketchy, but tonight we understand a tourist who arrived in Belize today on a cruise ship was out snorkelling with his wife and brother about a mile south east of Caye Caulker in […]
Three people reported missing at sea since Sunday afternoon are safe after a day and night on the water. According to police, the twenty-five foot boat that Ron Hardwick, Linda Hudge, and Armstrong Ortiz set off in from Long Caye at Lighthouse Reef, ran out of gas and for the past two days the trio […]
And in a final bit of news from the west, after hours of hard rain on Monday, this morning residents of the twin towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena woke up to find the Macal River practically on their doorstep. The raging water quickly covered the diversion bridge linking the towns, forcing traffic to […]
A Placencia tour operation, Advanced Diving, has lost its license following the death of a SCUBA diver and three day ordeal at sea for three other divers who survived. According to the Belize Tourism Board, the Tour Operating Licensing Committee met last Friday and not only voted to shut down Advanced Diving, it also recommended […]
American Nancy Masters is lucky to be alive. She and three companions on a dive trip last weekend wound up spending three days and two nights floating in the waters off Silk Caye after their boat developed engine trouble and their guide seemed unable to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, one of the group, Abigail Brinkman, […]
The survivors of a disaster at sea off the coast of southern Belize continue to recuperate from the traumatic experience. All three of the SCUBA divers have now been released from the hospital and are under private medical care at a local hotel. We understand tonight that as soon as they are well enough to […]
When we signed off on this broadcast last night it was with the news that the four divers missing at sea since Saturday had been spotted by a B.D.F. aircraft. Tonight we can report that three of them have survived and are recovering at a Belize City hospital. Although the survivors have yet to tell […]
The scenario brings to mind the tragic images of the movie “Open Water”…four SCUBA divers missing at sea since Saturday, presumably still bobbing somewhere on the deep blue sea outside the Barrier Reef. At news time there were reports of what may have been an aerial sighting some twenty miles east of Glover’s Reef, with […]
At this hour it looks like we’ll dodge the bullet, but Belizeans are still holding their breath tonight as the most powerful hurricane in history churns past our doorstep en route to a rendezvous with the Yucatan coast or Gulf of Mexico. There remains a small possibility for some major impact in Belize, and if […]
Most Belizeans are aware of the threat of hurricanes, but earthquakes? While they are seldom felt here, they do occur occasionally, like this morning. News Five visited the Met Office in Ladyville today to find out about this rare seismic event. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting The National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, reports that people living in […]
