A long line of traffic stretched both ways along the George Price Highway around 1:00 this afternoon after a traffic accident near mile 37. Five people were involved, including two tourists, but only four survived.
The driver of one of the vehicles explained that the accident happened so fast, that there was no way he could avoid it. Now, the family of one man is mourning, while the family of the other driver is hoping for the best.
Courtney Menzies was on the scene and has this story.
Two tourists and a Belizean are left hospitalized, while another man is lying in the morgue, after an accident near mile 37 on the George Price Highway. The driver of this Chrysler is a tour guide who had just taken the tourists on a cave tour at Jaguar Paw. They had just flown in from San Pedro and were on their way to Belize when the Ford Escape, coming in the opposite direction, started, lost control and started flipping in front of them.
The tour guide tried to swerve away but the Ford came barreling towards them and sent them flying off the road.
One of the first responders on the scene told us that it seemed as if the passenger in the Ford died on impact, while the other person was restrained by his seatbelt.
Marvin Verula, First On The Scene
"This vehicle probably passed me five minutes before and when I got here I just saw smoke, I guess because of the radiator and the accident had already happened. You could have seen the people here already looked motionless and then I just tried to assist the young ladies that were here. I guess the young boy just came from a tour. That's about it, I guess. Everything was just frightening, you could have been able to tell that one of the guys looked like he had already passed away and then we tried to assist the other guy that was locked down with the seatbelt, we had to cut the seatbelt because the ambulance was taking forever to reach and the officials hadn't reached for a good half an hour and some of the guys were right here to watch too. I had a knife and just ended up handing it to them and cut it so that we could have tried to take him out then somebody decided to not let us take him out until the ambulance came and took him."
He also helped the tourists until the ambulance arrived, but said that their injuries did not seem as serious.
Marvin Verula, First On The Scene
"One of the young ladies with seatbelt had chest pain, she was the one who appeared to be more injured than her friend, so they took her first along with the patient from the Ford Escape, they went and then the next young lady got assistance, the ambulance came and took her but two of them looked like they were alright but I guess he was going back to drop them after he finished his tours."
While the guide was not rushed to the hospital, he had both knees bandaged and was limping. And after more than an hour of blocked traffic, the Ford was pushed off the road and cars were allowed to flow.
Still, for those on the scene, it was a traumatic accident. Verula said while that curve is dangerous, he speculated that the Ford may have had a blow out.
Marvin Verula, First On The Scene
"His front tire looked like it has a blowout because you see, this tire looks worn out, so I don't know, he probably had a blow out and that's what caused him to lose control and flip and crashed straight into young boy and that's what happened."
"Sad day on the road when you see these kinds of situations, especially at this curve. I'm always on the road and this curve is deadly, It's a deadly curve."
Just a few minutes ago, police issued an official report on this accident. 27-year-old Dennis Perez, the tour guide, told officers he was with 33-year-old Kelsey O'Connor and 33-year-old Baylee O'Brien when he saw the Ford Escape overturn. It was being driven by 40-year-old Jaime Correa, who sustained injuries and was transported to the KHMH in an unconscious state. His passenger, 28-year-old Estevan Chiac, died instantly.
| 