Today, a heartbroken mother took to Facebook, exactly one month after losing her son to a tragic traffic accident. Overwhelmed with grief and questions, she shared her sorrow and concerns. The students from Ocean Academy High School in Caye Caulker were on their way to Orange Walk for a basketball game when one of the vehicles had a blowout and flipped multiple times. Tragically, Alex Bainton succumbed to severe injuries a few days later. His mother, Nikita Marin, questioned why her son was in a private car when she had signed a document for him to travel by school bus. She expressed her frustration, noting that no teacher had contacted her to ask if it was okay for him to travel in a private car. Marin also raised concerns about whether the car was insured, who owned it, and why the students weren’t wearing seat belts. She is left wondering who will be held accountable for her son’s untimely death.
Category: Auto Accidents
Tourist Loses All Her Belongings When Rental Car Was Burnt
A Pennsylvania tourist’s dream vacation in Belize took a dramatic turn when her rental car burst into flames, leaving her with nothing but the clothes on her back. Rachel Goldman had just rented a 2013 Ford Escape from AQ Auto Rentals for her six-day tour of Belize. On Friday, while cruising down the John Smith Link Road around midday, she noticed smoke billowing from the hood. Acting quickly, she pulled over, but within moments, the car exploded into a fiery inferno. Rachel managed to escape unharmed, but her passport, credit card, iPhone 12, and all her clothes were lost in the blaze. Authorities are still trying to figure out what caused the fire. Despite the scare, Rachel is safe, though undoubtedly shaken by the ordeal.
BDF Driver Charged After Truck Overturns
Forty-eight-year-old Joseph Cifiriano Avila, a Belize Defense Force truck driver from Lord’s Bank Village, has been charged with “failure to provide a specimen” and “driving without due care and attention.” The charges come on the heels of a Christmas Eve accident on the Southern Highway. The crash happened near the Bocawina Junction just before seven p.m. on Tuesday. Video footage shows Avila’s truck flipped onto its roof as he was driving from Punta Gorda to Price Barracks, with one passenger on board. Avila told police he swerved to avoid a motorcycle, causing the truck to veer off the road and overturn. Officers noted a strong smell of alcohol on Avila’s breath, and he refused to provide a sample for testing. He was subsequently charged and issued a Notice of Intended Prosecution. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported from the incident.
RTA Victim Believed to be Guatemalan National
On Tuesday, a tragic road accident in Stann Creek District claimed the lives of a man and his dog. The incident occurred in the morning along the Stann Creek Valley Road in Hope Creek Village, near the entrance to Dangriga. A white truck struck the man while he was walking his dog. Police are still investigating and have not yet confirmed the victim’s identity. However, locals believe he is Jose Angel Castillo, a Guatemalan national from Chiquimula, who was known to walk his dog in the area daily. Stay tuned for more details as the story develops.
Man and Dog Knocked Down and Killed in Hope Creek
Police are investigating a tragic incident in Stann Creek where a man and his dog were struck and killed by a vehicle. The accident happened this morning along the Stann Creek Valley Road in Hope Creek Village, near the entrance to Dangriga. Witnesses reported that the vehicle involved was a white pickup truck. Police responded quickly and are currently investigating the incident. The victim’s name has not yet been released, but locals say he was often seen walking his dog in the area, likely making his daily rounds with his pet. We’ll give you more details as the story develops.
PM Proposes to Tighten Enforcement of Traffic Laws
The recent wave of fatal traffic accidents has left many families and friends heartbroken, prompting calls for better infrastructure. Last Saturday, a tragic head-on collision on the George Price Highway, between San Ignacio and Benque Viejo, claimed ten lives, including a motorcyclist who crashed into one of the vehicles. Just a week earlier, in Orange Walk District, a student from Ocean Academy High School lost his life when the van he was in suffered a blowout, veered off the road and flipped multiple times. In response, Cayo North Area Representative Michel Chebat announced on Thursday that the Benque Road will be rebuilt. Today, Prime Minister John Briceño presented the first measures the government is taking, not only to protect lives but also to support first responders who face the traumatic aftermath of these accidents.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“We also have to find whatever help we can give our first responders some kind of counseling. So I asked the Minister of Health, you know, to see what arrangements we can – and he could speak also with the Minister responsible, Minister Habet, to put some kind of program so we can help these first responders. I think it was kind of distasteful for people to hurry put up the pictures of the people that died, not how they looked, but how they looked when they were alive to say that this person is dead. And without no consideration of the trauma that the family is going through. And maybe we need to find some kind of – I hate to put it this way, some kind of legislation to prevent this kind of things from happening. In many instances you don’t even know what happened and then somebody on social media already blasts what happened and in some instances it’s not even the right information. But, I think that generally our country came together during, and still during this difficult period. But too many Belizeans are dying as a result of road traffic accidents. And too frequently, these tragedies could have been avoided if we had less reckless drivers. And we really need to see how we could tighten it so that when people know better, that if you drive under the influence and get in an accident, that we are going to come at you. In the terms of enforcement, we’ve also tasked the Ministry of Transportation to establish more around the clock – 24-hour highway surveillance, but to put more effort into At night, because most of the time it’s at night when people drive after they come from a party or they are drinking to see how we could control or stop as best as we possibly can these driving under the, under the influence. We have to amend the laws for the use of speed guns, breathanalyzers and dash cams. It will also be made to equip war officers with the requisite tools to bring offenders to justice.”
Accident Drive for Cayo Victims Raises 25 Grand in Five Days
In a heartwarming show of community support, one of the fundraisers for the families affected by Saturday night’s tragic accident has already raised over twenty-five thousand dollars. Passy Haylock, the driving force behind the “Just a Dollar Drive,” has wasted no time in distributing the funds to the grieving families. Speaking to News Five, Haylock shared that he felt a deep urge to help. After making an appeal on Facebook, the response was overwhelming in such a short period. He emphasized that this drive is far from over, as the families will continue to face expenses long after their loved ones are laid to rest.
“When I initially made the post, I was like, you know, I don’t want you to feel pressure. In terms of providing like five by like seven, like twenty dollars or fifty dollars or a hundred dollars, just a dollar. And I was basically thinking about the population between the surrounding villages, over twenty thousand people, forty, fifty thousand if you go the villages. And I was like, if we can get donations we can help these families. I didn’t expect it to go so far, because I’ve been reached out from the people from Canada, people out in the U.S., people from England, from Guatemala, so a lot of people are actually reaching out to me, and it’s very, very overwhelming, but it’s for a good cause. And one person asked me, when am I going to end this drive, because it goes on a date that I simply mentioned to the person, but there’s no closing date when it comes to generosity and helping people. Now do factor in that there’s a lot of places throughout the leads that have come up with their own just a dollar. Campaign, and I appreciate them for that, I have a friend that has money when he comes to Zelle, there’s a GoFundMe page, so all of that money hasn’t been accounted for so there are pages in there’s the team one in Benque. I think there’s another and the funny thing is I went to the bank the other day with a big container of coins and quarters, and I didn’t know that you had to roll them yourself. Even that money is not accounted for, but don’t worry, it’s in very good hands, people will get their money.”
Government to Rebuild Benque Road Where Accident Happened
The tragic accident has underscored the urgent need for several measures. Families and friends of the victims are calling for stricter enforcement of traffic laws, tougher penalties for violations, and improved infrastructure on the San Ignacio/Benque road where the incident occurred. Today, Cayo North Area Representative Michel Chebat shared with us that the government has listened to these pleas. He mentioned that some of these measures will be announced as soon as tomorrow at the House Meeting.
Michel Chebat, Area Representative, Cayo North
“I don’t want to preempt our Prime Minister, but I know that he will be at the House Meeting tomorrow. He should be presenting some of the changes that we can see happening. But let’s step back for a moment. I know you referred to 2019. The Benque Viejo Road, as we call it, where this accident actually happened, is just being rebuilt. It is in the process of being rebuilt. It has not been completed and so a lot of what we need on that road have not yet been put in. The dividers, the reflectors, the signs, all of those are going to come. But unfortunately, that road is not yet completed. That is on the one side. On the other side, Marion, I think as drivers, we too have to take responsibility for our actions, and I think some education. People are calling for driver education, which I think would be very helpful to make sure that when people get their driver’s license, they actually do both the manual and the written exam so that they understand the rules of the road and so forth. Certainly, I can tell you that next week, Thursday, we are going to be breaking ground for the Contiki community police station, which is in that vicinity. And I think that that is very timely because with the formal opening of the Benque Road, the Benque Highway, the police will now have closer access to that road. It means that they’ll be able to put up more patrols in the night. They’re going to be able to put up more police stops. And they’re going to have a greater presence in that area. And certainly, it’s going to give them a faster reaction time in the event of any accidents.”
Ocean Academy Student to Undergo Spinal Surgery Tomorrow
While the Cayo community has come together to support the families of the traffic accident victims, over in Caye Caulker, there’s another heartfelt fundraising effort underway. This time, it’s for the Ocean Academy High School basketball team members who were injured in an accident two Fridays ago. The tragic incident in Orange Walk claimed the life of seventeen-year-old Alex Bainton and left many others injured. However, there’s a glimmer of hope as one of the severely injured students, Gilbert Tec Junior, is showing signs of improvement. Although he’s still in a coma, reports indicate positive signs of recovery with upper body movements. Gilbert, who also suffered a severe spinal injury, and another student need surgery and intensive care. Fundraiser Lee Vanderwalker shared that while the teacher involved has already undergone surgery, the road to recovery for the students is still ongoing.
“ We got the teacher to Guatemala City, he had his surgery and he’s recovering now. It’s going to be a long road for him. One of the students that originally they thought he only had a broken foot, it turns out he has like a fractured vertebrae in his spine, so he’s been accepted by the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and while that’s an awesome thing, his parent that goes with him still has a lot of costs that has to be borne. And so, essentially, the remainder of the funds that I had raised is going towards that three to six month-trip for – the young man’s name is Javon – and for his father to go and be with him while he has spinal surgery so that he can regain mobility. Right now, he has a cast on his foot and he’s in a very serious back brace that he cannot take off. One of the reasons why Gilly’s family is really too busy to talk right now is that he’s not really come out of the coma. However, they do believe he will, and they’re scheduling surgery on his femur. So that he’ll get his femur repaired tomorrow. And then in the meantime, they’re working on getting him accepted into a treatment program in the U.S. through another one of those hospitals that accepts foreign patients, but then it’s also going to be the issue of which parent goes with him. They’re going to have their expenses to bear also. So, the fundraising is ongoing and it’s going to be ongoing for a while.”
Habet says G.O.B. Listening to All Citizen Concerns of Road Traffic Safety
Belizeans are still in shock from the series of deadly road accidents over the past few months, including a tragic incident on the George Price Highway that claimed ten lives last weekend. On Tuesday, we spoke with Cayo Northeast Area Representative, Orlando Habet, about the government’s response plan. He shared that the government held an open dialogue with the community to gather feedback on potential improvements. Residents suggested changes like better road lighting and nationwide driver education for young people. We caught up with Habet again today, and he expanded on the changes Belizeans are eager to see.
Orlando Habet, Area Representative, Cayo NorthEast
“Another suggestion was that there are no, at least in Cayo, no driving schools to teach young people and have their driving they can do it a year or more with a learner’s permit before they can get a license. Concerns that maybe sometimes some politicians, luckily not, I am not one of them, that would call the police and say, listen, a certain person have a traffic violation, can you release them or be easy with them? That has to stop. We cannot continue. And so there were different suggestions, but I think that clearly the road signs, visibility of the signs, the markings on the road, very important, but also on the other side, People want to have space and areas where they can go and enjoy themselves because they’re young. But one of them can’t be over drinking. It has to be controlled. And so the families have to also take some responsibility there. And to speak to our youth because they are so valuable to our communities, valuable to our country, so we can’t continue losing them the way they are. I can recall when I was in a position when the road was being constructed and I was in the front row. From Belmopan to San Ignacio and I told the Prime Minister Barrow at the time I was in a position that if we are making the roads and it is very expensive and the reason why it was expensive was because they had to acquire land from both sides from private property to widen the road, then why didn’t we acquire a little bit more and make it four lanes so that you have two lanes going, two lanes coming because from what I hear from the traffic department, transport department is that A high percentage of the front line accidents occur because of overtaking. And that’s because we only have two lanes on the road. It is something that we’ll have to start to address gradually. At least, certain sections of the road that are very important, where we can do that. And that there is still some space. Maybe from Belmopan to Cayo, to San Ignacio, it’s difficult because you have the villages throughout all the road. But maybe from Belmopan to Belize City is one area where we can possibly do that.”