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Benque Police are still investigating Sunday night’s hijacking of a D&E Bus in Benque by two Guatemalan bandits – one armed with a handgun and the other with a hand grenade. As we’ve reported, the bandit armed with the grenade was kicked out of the bus by passengers. Those passengers then attacked the bandit armed with a handgun. He was stabbed in his back and later died. He has been identified as Guatemalan national Wilson Orland Paz Dominguez. But his death is no tragedy. What’s tragic is what happened to 18 year old Luisa Carillo. She is the promising high school student who was on the D&E Bus returning from visiting a friend in San Ignacio when the attack occurred. Fearing for her safety, she did the unthinkable and jumped through the backdoor of the bus during the attack while the bus was still moving! She crashed to the pavement and fractured her skull – twice. Tonight the news is that her chances of survival are guarded. Keith Swift has her story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
Since last night 18 year old Luisa Carrillo has been under observation in the Intensive Care Unit at the Healthcare Partners Hospital. The fourth form student who jumped from the hijacked D&E Bus outside of Benque is in an induced coma – unable to see, hear, or feel.

Eswin Carillo, Brother
“It is hard as a family just seeing her lying there on the bed with all of those tubes but we are trying to deal with that.”

Luisa’s older brother Eswin has been at her beside since Sunday night’s incident.

Eswin Carillo,
“Some people are telling me that at the back of the bus where she jumped, I don’t know if there was a fight there and the next one in front by the driver. So I cannot tell if during the commotion someone pushed her out or if she decided to jump out of the bus.

We have to give her positive comments.”

Keith Swift,
“So you’ve been able to talk to her?”

Eswin Carillo,
“Yes. This thing happened Sunday and Monday she was conscious. She recognized me. She recognized her father, her mother, and she was answering some questions that the doctor asked. She could tell you the time, she can tell you that she is thirsty. This thing happened Sunday and Monday she was conscious. She recognized me. She recognized her father, her mother, and she was answering some questions that the doctor asked. She could tell you the time, she can tell you that she is thirsty, she is hungry, and she is showing some improvement.”

But not fast enough. The fall from the moving bus fractured Luisa Carillo’s skull in two places. Neurosurgeon Joel Cervantes made the decision to place her on selective life support.

Dr. Joel Cervantes, Neurosurgeon
“She was brought into the hospital conscious but she was already starting to have, we use the word neurological demise, she was starting to go under and basically she was very flustered and started to become very aggressive. Her behaviour started to change and there were brief moments of confusion. So based on how she was and what we were seeing in the CT scans that had been taken already, we decided as a proactive approach to put to a stop as best as possible the brain swelling.

Unfortunately it seems she jumped backwards and she landed on the right side of her head, in this region here, the temporal region and she has a fractured here and also a fracture a little more to the back which at the same time caused a fracture in the base of the skull which directly communicates with the ear canal on the right hand side. At the same time the brain issue was flung up inside the skull and this caused two conditions to occur. One is a blood clot that is trapped between the surface of the brain and the inner part of the skull on the right hand side and secondly because minor blood vessels had a rupture, in the water canal of the brain she has a little bit of blood in it. Secondarily she has developed a lot of brain swelling, well moderate to severe, which between the blood clots and the brains swelling, this compromises her life to a certain extent.”

Dr. Cervantes gives Luisa a 50-50 chance of survival.

Dr. Joel Cervantes,
“I think she is still critical and I think it is a 50-50 chance at this point.”

Keith Swift,
“People in similar condition to this, what has been their chances?”

Dr. Joel Cervantes,
“Worse. What helps this young lady is that she is young, she is strong, and she doesn’t have any bad habits; intake of alcohol, smoking, drugs consumption. So her chances are survival are better because of all those factors involved.”

Keith Swift,
“How long do you expect to keep her in the induced coma?”

Dr. Joel Cervantes,
“Well the plan is tomorrow morning we are taking a brain CT scan to see if we’ve been able bring down any of the swelling and of course that the blood clots are within check, not getting bigger but starting to minimize. If we have evidence of that then perhaps tomorrow we might decide to wake her up.”

Luisa’s family hopes it will. The fourth form student at Sacred Heart College is scheduled to graduate in June.

Eswin Carillo,
“That was one of her dreams, to finish college and then pursue an Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree in an area that she would like to.”

And her family hopes it won’t be a dream deferred as she recovers from the trauma and injury of Sunday night’s incident.

That crucial CT Scan will be performed tomorrow morning. Luisa Carillo is hospitalized at the Healthcare Partners Hospital. If you can help with the medical cost for her recovery – you can contact her brother Eswin at 651-1090. You can also make contributions into Belize Bank account number 10558. We’ll keep tracking her progress.