You probably remember that tragic accident in May of this year when a water taxi exploded near the Swing Bridge in Belize City. That blast killed 2 little girls, sisters, 10-year-old Yamiri Yasmin Guy, and 8-year-old Kimberly Melissa Guy, and who were onboard with their parents. The flames of the explosion also injured 8 tourists who were also on the vessel.
Since then, the Port Authority has implemented stricter measures to ensure that there is no repeat of this tragedy, but the victims of that explosion are still looking for answers. They want the Belize Port Authority to release their final report on their investigation into the accident. It is reportedly in its final stages and has been for some time now, and so, they want to know when it will be released.
Today, Roseli Catch, the mother of the two girls who died in the explosion, traveled from Caye Caulker to speak with us in Belize City. She told us - in Spanish - that she still doesn't know what happened to cause her children to perish. Here are her translated comments:
Roseli Catch, Mother
"Up until know we don't know anything that has happened and not even a response until now, nothing. We haven't heard anything, they haven't told us anything. Even me as the mother, I don't know anything."
"It's something really hard. It's not really something I want to discuss."
"I don't know yet because they've been taking a while. And I also want to know what the result will be after what has happened."
"Whenever I come pray and ask God not to let anything happen like what happened in the accident."
"I'd want these people to come and tell me what will happen and for them not to have me like this in agony without knowing what they're going to say or what's going to happen."
"We would like some kind of response."
One of the victims, who is a US National, also reached out to us last week to inquire when the Port Authority will release this final report. He's 56-year-old Joseph Lee, and this evening, via video call interview from Indiana, he told us that the death of 10-year-old Yamiri and 8-year-old Kimberly still haunts him:
We reached contacted the office of the Ports Commissioner, Merlene Bailey-Martinez, requesting comment, but we were told that she was in a late-evening meeting. We'll follow up tomorrow for a response.
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