Fatal RTA on George Price highway, One Dead, Several Injured  

One person is dead, and the fate of another victim is unknown, following an accident between mile thirty-six and thirty-seven along the George Price Highway earlier this afternoon. Around twelve fifteen p.m., a blue Ford Escape was travelling in the direction of Belmopan when it collided with a white van transporting a pair of tourists from Jaguar Paw, severely injuring the passengers inside the vehicle. News Five’s Britney Gordon was on the scene with more details.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Another person is dead following a road traffic accident at midday. Since the beginning of the week, at least three people have died in a fatal collision. Today, while travelling in opposite directions along the George Price Highway, two vehicles collided, injuring five people and killing at least one. Marvin Virula was among the first responders to arrive on the scene. He tells us how he stopped to offer his assistance.

 

Marvin Virula, Witness

“When I just get here I just see that smoke from the speaker mi di come, I guess it’s because the radiator broke up and stuff. Deh one deh mi look really bad. And ney ones mi still need to be assisted. So they mi have our next pickup truck and a older guy and a younger guy when mi assist to, they bring them out and try to give them shades and so on and actually band one of them up, because of the injury weh he mi had. And afterwards, gone to this vehicle because we realized the person’s still alive in there. And at the time, then we had more people stop by decide to cut the seatbelt because one of the guys, we actually think, there’s one person in there, but when we got closer, we realized two in there, but one motionless, right? I guess, maybe he probably got an impact, but we managed to cut the seatbelt and then give ah wa lee space to make ih breathe.”

 

The blue Ford Escape was travelling from the direction of Belize City, carrying two passengers, while the white van contained a Belizean tour guide and two American nationals. Virula says that just minutes before the collision, he saw the blue vehicle overtaking him on the road. The sight of a mangled vehicle in the middle of the highway, just moments later, was harrowing.

 

Marvin Virul

“I actually mi dih drive coming this way too and this vehicle passed me mussi like, after the whole scene and everything, I can’t remember everything exactly how it happened. But I’d say maybe five minutes he mi pass me and I mi frightened to see that he had an accident, and middle of the street the driver, the tour guide,  said that what happened is that they, I don’t know if they had a blowout or they just lose control and he gone from one side to the next and he couldn’t avoid it, and that da when he had the impact against he.”

 

The passenger in the Ford Escape was motionless when responders arrived to assist, while the driver was still breathing. The injuries suffered by the passengers in the van were not life threatening and they were taken to the Western Regional Hospital for treatment. Due to the accident, traffic was backed up for over an hour, stretching the length of mile thirty-six. Truck driver Jorge Escalante was one of the first drivers to encounter the accident on the road.

 

Jorge Escalante, Witness

“When I was coming, me see the big accident and there was some vehicle crossing through the side.  But when after come the police, I mih have to slow down and stop. Because, suddenly they hurry and come and put the cones. And so I deh right ya maybe one hour and a half, something like that or more.”

 

As a truck driver, Escalante remains hyper-vigilant of accidents he may encounter on the road, but he says that an incident of this severity is something that he cannot describe.

 

Jorge Escalante

“They tek out one person from the vehicle. And they ker the one who was in the middle of the road there. Maybe one alive and one dead.”

 

Britney Gordon

“So what was that like for you? Seeing that as a driver that drives on these dangerous roads every day, to see first hand, something like that in front of you?

 

Jorge Escalante

“You can’t explain that because it’s something in the dark. Something just like frighten. I can’t explain that.”

Virula sprang into action to help shortly after realizing that the victims needed assistance. He was fueled by adrenaline due to the intensity of the moment.

 

Britney Gordon

“How does it feel, to know that you came in such close contact with an accident of this severity?”

 

Marvin Virula

“Like I tell you, when you run into these things, actually mi gone live and then I cut off my live fi actually start assist. But within that, I di try bring back memory to exactly what point they passed me and I can’t remember, because too much excitement of seeing this thing and it’s sad, to say things like that because as you get there you see the person to bleed a lot. You could ah mi clearly see that the driver mi still alive, but you coulda mi see that ih need assistant like right away.”

 

Although the cause of the accident is still under investigation, Virula believes that first responders should be stationed along the highways, particularly around times of public celebrations, should accidents like this occur.

 

Marvin Virula

“Try call police, ambulance and so some other guys they said that they done call and then they come, when then things happen. I don’t know, I believe they should have an ambulance just to linger on, between denyah long stretch right there, where, especially for, like a day when a lot of activities that happen or things like that, because people sometimes tend to be, maybe they noh di drink all day, but they got wah two three alcohol drinks inna ney system. It woulda good fi have, like I said, certain areas just have an ambulance dealing about, that when you had this happen, they should be the first ones fi deh deh. If the police could reach afterwards, but the ambulance are the ones that could assist them people to survive.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.