The Prime Minister Said Musa returned today after a week long visit to Taiwan with the Minister for Budget and Planning Ralph Fonseca. Although he was far from home during the Mitch crisis the Prime Minister was constantly updated on what was happening in Belize. Today, just minutes after he touched down at the P.G.I.A. […]
News Five also spoke with Deputy Prime Minister John Briceño, who although he had only been sworn in two months ago, shouldered the enormous responsibility of leading the country during the hurricane threat. John Briceño, Deputy Prime Minister “I think I must thank all the help that I had; all of the ministers were out […]
While Belize escaped Mitch without any casualties, others of course were not so fortunate. While the death toll climbs into the thousands in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, of particular concern to Belizeans is the fate of thirty-one crew members on the tall ship known as the “Phantome”. Viewers may recall that last Monday the vessel, […]
The saga of the Phantome illustrates the importance of early and accurate weather forecasting. And while no one would suggest that Belize’s own meteorologists are anything less than first rate, a series of unfortunate events left the Met office significantly impaired during the recent crisis. This afternoon News Five’s Stewart Krohn spoke with former Chief […]
As thousands of Belizeans moved to higher grounds from the threat of hurricane Mitch, most radio stations remained on air round the clock, to keep the nation inform and prepared in case the storm hit Belize. Today we caught up with Rene Villanueva and Gerald Garbutt, General Managers of Love FM and FM 2000 who […]
For the majority of Belizeans, Hurricane Mitch was a second hand storm. We felt some rain, but the winds stayed an abstract number on the weather channel. We had no idea by looking out our windows — the few which weren’t boarded up anyway — of the storm’s real power. But those who remained on […]
It seemed like a case of deja-vu, but the heat and flames on Albert Street last night and its accompanying blackout were real. In the daylight city residents could only sigh as they passed the burnt out shell of yet another favorite downtown store. News Five was at the scene. Friday’s early morning fire was […]
An investigating team was sent today to the crash site of a B.D.F. Defender aircraft. The twin engine plane was on reconnaissance patrol over the Orange Walk District when it experienced engine problems around two p.m. yesterday. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Jose Lopez was forced to set the plane down in a swamp some five […]
A B.D.F. plane crash landed this afternoon but we are happy to report that the occupants walked away unhurt. The twin engine Defender was on reconnaissance patrol over the Orange Walk District when around two o’clock it experienced engine problems. The pilot was forced to set the plane down in a swamp some five to […]
A musician from San Ignacio drowned over the weekend. Reports are that thirty-two year old Anibal Lanza of Cahal Pech area had been swimming in the river on Sunday afternoon when he suddenly disappeared under the water. With help from residents of nearby Santa Familia Road the body was found near the Bullet Tree Bridge. […]
A two year old boy has received second degree burns after being left unattended in his home which caught fire. According to reports from Punta Gorda, the mother, Sandra Casimiro, had left her son, Colin Ordonez, sleeping in a bedroom while she went out around ten Monday morning. Inside the bedroom was a lighted kerosene […]
Twenty-four hours after the fire alarm was sounded at the corner of North Creek Road and Curasow Street, firemen were once again busy on the southside of the city early this morning. The upper flat of the two-storey building at the corner of thirty-nine Dean and Plues Streets was partially destroyed by fire which broke […]
An early morning fire on southside Belize City has left several people homeless. News Five’s Patrick Jones reports. According to Fire Chief Henry Baizar, the blaze erupted at the corner of North Creek Road and Curasow Street shortly after midnight. The fire service responded with two trucks. Henry Baizar, Fire Chief “They got there and […]
Five days ago it was the northside… today it was the southside’s turn to feel the heat of a fire. And while this morning’s blaze was less costly than Saturday’s disaster, it still left two families without a place to call home. The fire started shortly before nine this morning and totally destroyed a two-storey […]
In the American media the damage has been overshadowed by its continuing threat to U.S. territories and mainland, but several islands of the Eastern Caribbean were severely battered by Hurricane Georges. The pictures on your screen are from Antigua, where the storm killed two people and severely injured five. Two thousand Antiguans are homeless, electricity […]
While most of Belize City was sleeping off the effects of the first night of a long independence weekend, residents of Craig Street and Barrack Road were awakened to cries of “fire”. Quickly on the scene was News Five special assignment reporter William Neal who was soon joined by cameraman Wilson Pat. What they found […]
Just one week after reporting the death of Irene Canche, the sixty-four year old woman who was severely burned in a gas tank explosion in San Jose Palmar Village, word has been received of the deaths of two more of the fire victims. According to reports, thirty year old Luz Maria Jimenez succumbed to her […]
It sent flames roaring into the afternoon sky and turned human bodies into living torches. And if you’ve always been afraid around tanks of butane gas you’ll now know why. This morning I visited Orange Walk and heard a story that still has me frightened. Twenty-four hours after the devastating explosion in San Jose Palmar […]
A household in Belize City can be considered lucky even though tonight they are sleeping much closer to the ground than they’d prefer. The Smith family of number seventeen Kut Avenue in Belize City is literally trying to pick up the pieces after their formerly two-storey house was transformed into a broken bungalow. The crash, […]
A fire this morning has destroyed a house in Belize City. The home, at number twenty-four Usher Street was owned by Adeline Ottley and occupied by her daughter Yvonne. Neither the building, nor its contents were insured and total damage is estimated at around twenty-five thousand dollars. There is no word yet on the cause […]
It was fortunate that there were no major fires in Belize City today as the water shortage could have led to disaster. But a day earlier not even an tidal wave could have averted the tragedy which unfolded at the corner of Jaguar and Tapir Street in the new Faber’s Road area. The Chavarria family […]
Around the same time as Juarez crashed in San Juan, a fire was destroying a building and generator at the big mango farm near Monkey River. The General Manager of Tropical Produce Company Laila Mehlum told police that she saw smoke coming from the twenty five by twenty five foot shed housing the farm’s light […]
The first reports came in just as we were preparing to go on the air with last night’s newscast. But we managed to dispatch a crew to the International Airport just as night was falling and with a little bit of luck and a lot of ingenuity reporter Patrick Jones, cameraman Wilson Pat and driver […]
As I speak hope appears to be fading in the search for any survivors in a plane crash that was first reported to our newsroom only twenty five minutes ago. Air traffic controllers at Philip Goldson International have just told News Five that a foreign registered twin engine Beechcraft fifty-eight with four people aboard took […]
The Belize National Basketball Team was burning up the competition this weekend at City Centre… and later in the broadcast James Adderley will have all the delightful details… but in the wee hours of Saturday morning, while most Belize City residents slumbered peacefully, content with their team’s opening victory, another building was burning, not figuratively […]
