Two Vehicles, One Motorcycle – Ten Persons Dead

We start tonight’s news with the heartbreaking details of a tragic road accident in San Ignacio, marking the worst in recent history. A three-vehicle pile-up claimed ten lives and left four others injured, two of them critically. The accident occurred between miles seventy-one and seventy-two on the San Ignacio/Benque Viejo road, just a few hundred yards past Kontiki Service Station, heading from San Ignacio towards Benque. A Ford Expedition SUV with four occupants was traveling from San Ignacio towards Benque, while a Toyota Corolla with nine occupants was heading in the opposite direction. The two vehicles collided head-on, causing the Corolla to burst into flames. Tragically, all nine occupants, including a four-year-old girl, perished. A motorcyclist traveling behind the SUV also crashed into the back of the vehicle and died on impact. The four occupants of the SUV were the only survivors, though they sustained injuries. Six of the deceased were friends and employees of Ready Call Center in San Ignacio. In the aftermath of this tragedy, the call center held a candlelight vigil on Sunday night, joined by the families of all ten victims. News Five’s Marion Ali brings us the story.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

The cause of the Toyota Corolla bursting into flames upon impact, tragically killing all nine of its occupants on Saturday night, remains a mystery. The horrific accident happened around ten PM between miles seventy-one and seventy-two on the San Ignacio/Benque Road, involving a head-on collision with a Ford Expedition SUV. The Corolla’s occupants were returning from a shopping trip to Melchor de Mencos, Guatemala. Shamela Pinelo was watching a live report of the accident when she discovered the heartbreaking news that she had lost both a niece and a cousin. When she called her niece’s phone, it was the police who answered.

 

Shamela Pinelo, Aunt of Keilin Pinelo

“From the moment they said come to the scene, I already saw on the live body bars.  Because it was at the hospital, the police would have said, go to the hospital. So I knew what I was coming to see.  When I got here, it was just sad. On the scene you will see curtains and different old stuff on the scene, where they went to do Christmas shopping.”

 

Pinelo mentioned that another victim had even joked with her about forgetting to bring her passport.

 

Shamela Pinelo

“The saddest thing for me, with the little one that name Ashley, I was in town, and she passed, and she watched me, and I hailed her, and I waved, and she said, who goes to Melchor and forget their passport? And then I laughed, and then she went back. Her brother brought it for her. That’s why he doesn’t know how he can hold up.”

 

Jasmin Rodriguez and her four-year-old daughter, Jazelle, were in the Corolla. Jasmin had gone shopping for Christmas gifts and party supplies for her son’s upcoming seventh birthday this Sunday. Jasmin’s mother, Delfina Rodriguez, shared that the family won’t be celebrating Christmas this year after receiving the devastating news from her son.

 

Delfina Rodriguez, Mother of Jasmin Rodriguez

“She was going to Melchor to buy her children Christmas clothes and a piñata for her son. Its going to be his birthday on Saturday. My son is a policeman. He called his dad and tell him that Jasmin had an accident and Jazza.”

 

Marion Ali

“Your granddaughter?”

 

Delfina Rodriguez

“Yes, my granddaughter, and they died. Jazza perished and Jasmin was thrown outside the car. They found her outside, and while going to the hospital, she reached the hospital, she died in the hospital. There will be no Christmas for us. It won’t be the same without.”

 

The driver of the Toyota Corolla was Roduel Parham, who wasn’t employed by the call center. He left home Saturday morning with his sister-in-law, telling his family he was going to check on a vehicle part. However, his sister-in-law, Aimie Hernandez, worked at the call center, so they might have planned the shopping trip together. Their relative, Christelle Manzanero, spoke with News Five.

 

Christelle Manzanero, Aunt of Roduel Parham

“He leave from here in the morning to go and check a vehicle part on Melchor side and coming back on his way, ih pa tell ah he mi wa cross it for ah since he work deh but ih pa mi di tell ah mek ih come home because my sister mi di worry bout ah soh on his way coming back we get the sad news or the sad call that my nephew was in the vehicle. Ih geh burn up and he’s dead along with the rest who passed away. That’s no kinda taximan that’s no kind of taxi man. I don’t know weh people get this information that it was a taxi. It was not a taxi. It was a private Corolla. He was a driver. It was not a taxi.”

 

Mitzi Iglegias lost her younger brother, Jaheim Iglesias, in the mishap.

 

Mitzi Iglesias, Sister of Jaheim Iglesias

“My brother doesn’t hang around with his coworkers. He usually hangs with other friends, so when he said he was going to go shopping, this was new for me because he always says this: “I’m at work to make money, not to make friends,” but it look like he did make friends this time and he was excited to go shopping, you know, for the Christmas.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.