A preliminary report following an investigation into the deadly helicopter crash has been submitted to Rear Admiral John Borland, who is coordinating a probe into the incident that claimed four lives last Thursday. That initial draft was tendered to him earlier today by Captain Elton Bennett of the Belize Coast Guard. While details of the […]
The issue of compensation for the families of the four deceased airmen has been raised in light of the fact that B.D.F. personnel do not qualify for social security benefits. While News Five understands that recompense will be offered to the respective families by government, the Minister of National Security says that details of the […]
The untimely demise of the head of the B.D.F. Air Wing, as well as his second-in-command, has left a vacuum in the leadership of that military unit and in the days ahead, a succession plan will have to be implemented for another officer to assume its helm. While that consideration will be made sooner rather […]
Earlier today, the press caught up with Commissioner of Police Chester Williams outside the gate of the Port of Belize. The Commissioner was there to mediate a matter related to the strike we have been reporting on since Monday. You’ll see our full report on that – but while Williams was there on the ground, […]
Corporal Yassir Mendez joined the Belize Defence Force as a member of Intake fifty-three in 2010. He was posted to the air wing in 2011. He served there up to the time of his untimely death, along with three of his colleagues in the line of duty last week. Today Mendez was buried in his […]
The families of the fallen officers have made public their disappointment that they learnt of the demise of their loved ones on social media and not from the B.D.F. command. Today, we spoke to Retired Captain Derricia Jael who has a bachelor’s in aircraft maintenance. She formed part of the Belize Defence Force as the […]
According to the Ministry of National Security, Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard Captain Elton Bennett is the lead investigator, under command of Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral John Borland, into the tragic incident. Experts from BATSUB, the U.S. and Mexico are also assisting in the investigation. A final report is expected in two weeks. […]
As you have heard, the families of the deceased soldiers have complained that the Belize Defence Force failed to notify them that the men had gone missing even though there are procedures that should be followed in such an event. The anti-drug operation occurred on Thursday morning and it was not until Friday, that the […]
There was mayhem in the City this afternoon as a number of shootings took place in the south side. At news time, it is known that one person was killed in the gun violence at the corner of Iguana Street and Central American Boulevard. At this time police are processing the scene. Earlier this afternoon, […]
There was traffic fatality early this morning on the Hummingbird Highway. It happened when a delivery truck transporting dry goods and food items, collided with a pickup truck and overturned near the village of Armenia. The driver of the truck belonging to German Vega and Sons Limited, was trapped inside and perished before he could […]
An investigation is ongoing at the Julian Cho High School in Punta Gorda where more than two million dollars were awarded in contracts to teachers by the then Principal Simeon Choc. Aside from those financial discrepancies found in an audit, there are other troubling issues. The high school has been operating without a principal for […]
Tonight, flags are flying at half mast at public buildings as the country mourns the deaths of four B.D.F. officers. The wreckage of the helicopter was removed from the crash site in Gales Point Lagoon over the weekend and experts are assessing the damage and cause of the crash. The remnants of the chopper have […]
The mother of deceased pilot Radford Baizar said on Friday that the family didn’t get an official word from the Ministry nor the B.D.F. that the pilot had perished. The family found out about his demise on social media, though at Friday’s press conference last Thursday, the Ministry said that the families were informed. Tonight, […]
Former Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, upon leaving the U.D.P.’s National Party Council meeting on Saturday, was asked about his knowledge of the fatal helicopter crash that claimed the lives of four B.D.F. airmen. While Elrington held that post briefly, he was quizzed about the protocols for the kind of flight mission that […]
Two persons were killed and one injured on Saturday night in San Ignacio. The security officer at the Tia Kong Supermarket, thirty-two year old Shann Vasquez and cashier thirty-two year old Marva Rivero, perished at the hospital in the town. The two victims had closed off the store for the night when they were met […]
The entire nation mourns tonight the worst air disaster in which two pilots and two crews of the Belize Defense Force perished. The four died in a helicopter crash sometime between Thursday and Friday near the Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary while conducting air surveillance near the site of the drug plane off the Coastal Road. […]
The B.D.F is still reeling from the fatal crash that claimed the lives of four of their own. But tonight there are still many questions and at today’s press briefing, Brigadier General Steven Ortega answered some of those questions. Ortega, visibly shaken by the deaths of four of his officers, responded to few questions today. […]
As we reported tonight, the deaths of four offices comes directly on the heel of the seizure of two tons of cocaine. As we showed you on Thursday, the Belize Police Department proudly spoke on the success of the operation. At today’s media briefing, the C.E.O. in the Ministry of National Security says that they […]
As you’ve heard earlier in the newscast, four of the B.D.F. soldiers are dead following the helicopter crash in the lagoon just off the Coastal Road. Two pilots and two crew members were a part of the surveillance team. The two pilots are highly decorated and long serving members of the force. Members of the […]
Up to news time, the families of the crash victims are at Price Barracks and still there was no word on the bodies of their loved ones. Thirty-four-year-old Radford Baizar, a major in the Belize Defense Force, perished along with three others in the helicopter crash on Thursday. Up to the time of his demise, […]
The news of the soldiers’ demise sent shockwaves into the public as family and close friends remain in disbelief. Hyacinth Latchman-Cuellar and her family are close friends with Major Adran Ramirez, who she describes as a disciplined officer. Ramirez leaves behind a wife and children among other relatives. Earlier this afternoon, before the press conference […]
In Thursday’s bust of a Golf Stream narco plane off the Coastal Road, sixty-nine bales of cocaine were found, amounting to two thousand and seventy parcels with a huge street value of as much as one hundred million dollars. The operation was coordinated by the B.D.F., Police and counterparts from the region, who tracked the […]
The biggest cocaine bus here in Belize took place in the wee hours of this morning. Combined work of the Belize Defense Force, the Police and Central American counterparts tracked a Gulf Stream narco plane originating from Venezuela. The plane landed two miles off the Coastal Road, where work has just began on its upgrade. […]
Unlike other instances when the police have come up empty-handed—only to find remnants of burnt planes—the Gulf Stream this morning was intercepted on the illegal airstrip loaded with sixty-nine bales of cocaine, worth millions. In September 2018, police made a similar bust near Tres Leguas in Orange Walk. There, the cargo was found and two […]
Police are spread thin and under-resourced in the fight against the illicit drug trade, which uses sophisticated equipment to evade the long arms of the law. Williams says that the Anti-Narcotics Unit is also anaemic in personnel and that while a radar has been acquired, another will be required to assist the police in tracking […]
