Last night we told you about a disastrous collision involving a school bus on the Hummingbird Highway. At approximately 5 pm, a bus carrying 50 students from San Martin Government School in Belmopan collided into the rear of a Bowen and Bowen freight truck which was stopped at the bottom of what's known as the Cisco Hill between miles 29 and 30. The Bowen and Bowen truck which was driven by 33 year old Mark Zelaya was parked because of another 18 wheeler -this one loaded with oranges - that was stalled in the middle of the Hummingbird. That truck it seems couldn't make it up the steep hill – and rolled back, leaving its orange-laden trailer across the highway. It was the recipe for disaster – and sure enough, it led to the death of a teenage conductor and the injury of 12 primary school students. Keith Swift has the story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
Yesterday this crashed bus was loaded with primary school students when it collided into a parked freight truck on the Hummingbird Highway. The driver was Quinton Middleton.

Quinton Middleton, Driver
"I was the driver of the bus. We had about 40 to 50 students that went over to the archaeology site for an education trip and coming back the evening around 10 to 5 climbing the hill, the back part of the Cisco hill, when I got on top to come down, I realized that a truck taking orange to the factory was turned across the road and in front of that they had a Bowen and Bowen truck that delivered water to some parts of the country from Belize City and I was in the bus coming down and there was no warning up on the hill stating there was something blocking the road and I couldn't stop. I tried to stop, brakes. I couldn't stop the bus. It just kept on sliding down and there is nothing I could have done."

Middleton says he made a split second decision.

Quinton Middleton,
"The truck was turned completely across the road, jack-knife, and if I would have hit the truck loaded with orange, it would have been worse. Probably I wouldn't even have been sitting here giving an interview how it happened. I decided to hit the back of the Bowen and Bowen truck with the right side of the bus, the edge, to try and stop it. My cousin was my conductor standing by the door and everything happened so fast that he couldn't even get a break to move."

The bus received extensive damage – and while Quinton Middleton made and all the students made it out alive, his cousin the bus conductor- 17 year old Erik Middleton didn't. He died on the scene.

Quinton Middleton,
"He was stuck underneath all the metal from atop the bus and the bus was like under the back part of the trailor and there was no way to get him out so I took the chain and I tied it to the bus I was driving and I hooked it on to the other one and tried to pull it back up the hill from behind the trailor. I got it moved like five inches and that just gave us a little bit push up to get out.

I sacrificed my cousin. I put it that way, I sacrificed my cousin for a busload of students who I don't even know. But I sacrificed my cousin's life for them. In one way it is okay that only one died and not five or six."

Quinton Middleton sacrificed the life of his cousin for the lives of the 50 students from San Martin Government School he was transporting. The students from the Standard 5 and Standard 6 Classes were returning from a field trip to the Nimlipunit Archaeological Site as part of their social studies class when the accident occurred. 50 students were on that bus and the school's principal says 12 of them received injuries that required medical attention.

Angelita Emmanuel, Principal - San Martin Gov't School
"I got the message I believe it was somewhere around 5:30 to 6 of the accident. We immediately started making phone calls. We couldn't get to any of the teachers because at the area they don't have any reception. But later on we had some good Samaritans passing and they brought in three of our students who they thought were hurt very badly and they were admitted for a short period of time at the Belmopan Hospital. These students were later released. There were just minor injuries."

Keith Swift,
How many students are still hospitalized right now?

Angelita Emmanuel,
"Presently we have three students in the Dangriga Hospital. They are as I am speaking are released. I contacted the doctor and he said they are released and so we have arranged for a transportation to take the parents of these three children to sign them out. They are not seriously hurt or anything. One of them should go on to Belize City at the KHMH to get a second opinion of probably a fractured or broken bone somewhere else and he was probably the worst of all. But he is doing pretty good. The doctor says they are all in good spirits and they are eager to come home."

The accident is now under investigation by Belmopan Police.

Sgt. Alvin Neal Jr., Lead Investigator
"From the investigation so far, between miles 29 and 30 the white freightliner truck for Bowen and Bowen and the red international truck that was on the road were stationary when this accident transpired. That is what the investigation revealed so far. If anybody has any information that they would like to share, I know there were a lot of passer-bys, people passing, or driving on the way they might have saw something that could be of assistance of our investigation, feel free to call in at the Belmopan Police Station and we need your assistance as such."

Reporting for 7News, I'm Keith Swift.

Again only 12 students required some medical attention and only three of those were hospitalized overnight. They have all been released. It is important to understand that the Bowen and Bowen heavy duty truck was also travelling to Belmopan. Its driver Mark Zelaya had time to stop and that's why he didn't collide into the 18 wheeler loaded with oranges. The truck carrying the oranges was driven by Carlos Alarcon.

A total of one hundred children from the San Martin Government School went on the trip. The other 50 students were in another bus which was 3 minutes behind the first one. That bus avoided the collision but it suffered a blow-out. None of the students on that bus were hurt.