There was a serious accident last night on the Western Highway. It happened at 8:20 at mile thirteen and a half. A Mazda Tribute was westbound when it ran under an eighteen-wheeler that was blocking the entire highway - from one side to the next. There were no warning flags on the road - and while the trailer had lights, it wasn't enough; the Mazda Tribute ran into it like it wasn't there. 7News was on the scene and I found out more from one of the first to render aid to the two persons inside the Tribute:
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
These are the survivors of last night's accident: Jefferson Dawson was rolled away from the wreck on the road on a stretcher while his wife Carmela Dawson was at least able to walk to the ambulance.
This was the scene that was left behind on Mile 13 on the Western Highway. The couple was on their way to Belmopan when they slammed head on into this 18 wheeler trailer truck.
The truck was reversing into the Softy Toilet Paper Factory, trailer first and that's was when Dawson rammed into it. The entire front portion of the SUV was wedged underneath.
Voice of Eyewitness
"The ceiling and the dashboard for the vehicle was right upon the two of them. Like maybe an inch more and they would have died on impact. Just thank God the vehicle stopped right underneath the truck and just exactly enough just not to kill them. So I just tried to force open the lady seat to release the pressure. But she was tight between the seat and both of them were complaining that they were locked up between and they couldn't breathe. Right away, the first thing that came to my mind was having them breath - lose them and try to free up the seats. The lady eventually came out and when I saw her free up, I ran across at the other side and try to do the same thing for the man, but he was trapped in there and he couldn't move. The seat was jammed and everything was jammed up."
And in order to set Dawson free from that jam, fire and police personnel had to use the "Jaws of Life".
Ted Smith, Fire Chief
"The SUV ran under the side of the trailer. The driver got stuck. Part of the roof came down into his chest and face. His body was trapped with the steering column, that the dashboard came down and pinned both his legs and his stomach. Our job was simply to free the gentleman from pieces of the vehicle and to extricate him safely from the vehicle. The equipment we use need to cause as least sparks or heat as possible. What we had there was JL27. Most people know it as the "jaws of life" and we have an ML50 or what we called a cutter. The cutter we use to cut the A posts and the B posts for the vehicle. We then lift portion of the top a little up, so that we could have access to the individual. Then we cut the B posts clearly away and move back the seat a little. Along with BERT, we then put the spine board or the stretcher under the individual and then simply removed the individual from the remains of the vehicle."
Those remains were dragged out from beneath the trailer and carted away - and the road, which had been blocked for an hour, was finally cleared.
The driver of the 18-wheeler trailer truck, 32 year old Nicaraguan Angel Lopez has been served with a notice of intended prosecution. The police are saying several factors need to be considered - these include the speed at which the Mazda was traveling and the issue of lighting and reckless driving on the part of the truck driver. As for the Dawson's, Jefferson Dawson received injuries to his face and chest while his wife Carmela Dawson received injuries to her right hand and forehead. They are both stable and recovering at the KHMH.
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