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Former Prime Minister Right Honourable Manuel Esquivel is at Belize Medical Associates tonight recovering after a serious accident on the Western Highway this morning. It happened at about 8:40 am around mile 31, just about a hundred feet west of the entrance to Mahogany Heights. Here’s the story.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
This is the Nissan Pathfinder on the side of the road. The four thousand pound SUV flipped multiple times and looked crumpled, puny – with its windows smashed and the inside in a state of upheaval.

And while that’s where it landed – eyewitnesses say the Driver William Schnarr lost control almost 200 feet away, by this area of loose gravel, skidded down the embankment and unto the shoulder. The tracks in the grass show where the Pathfinder was skating and then...the tracks end, that’s where it was launched into the air. One man who was one of the first on the scene spoke to us off camera.

Witness,
“The vehicle was going pretty slowly and when it got by the section that it ran off the road, it lost control. I believe it is because of the wet condition of the road, that’s all I could think. And after it got by here by the culvert, it flipped into the air and landed where it is. Scharr got out and he was talking to us and he was saying the same thing, he said he wasn’t going fast and I said I know because you told me already.”

Jules Vasquez,
And how did Mr. Esquivel appear?

Witness,
“To me he looked back to me, in a bad state. He was just sort of mumbling, I couldn’t make out what he was saying but when they took him out he was in some serious pain.”

CEO in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Beverly Castillo was one of the first on the scene.

Beverly Castillo, Witness
“When we arrived the driver was climbing out the vehicle so we know the accident had just happened and Mr. Esquivel was sitting in there, clearly he was hurt but he was alert. At least he was talking and moving and so we tried to keep him alert. We had already called the ambulance and it was on its way from Belmopan and we held on to his hand. Dr. Mahung and Cheryl Lynn Branker-Taitt, we all shared in trying to keep him alert.”

Jules Vasquez,
Hoe did he appear, what were his injuries that you could see?

Beverly Castillo,
“Well he was certainly bloody so we couldn’t see clearly what the injuries were but he was in a little bit of pain. That much we could see.”

Jules Vasquez,
Are you able to say what was his state of mind, was he calm, was he panicked?

Beverly Castillo,
“He was calm. He recognized me. I said who I was and he said, ‘okay Bev, thank you Bev.’ So he was alert.”

Jules Vasquez,
Was he able to get out of the vehicle?

Beverly Castillo,
“Well it was a decision for us on the scene to say not to move him, let the ambulance come. We didn’t want to compound any injury that he may have that was not visible and so we allowed him to sit in the vehicle while we tried to keep him calm and alert.”

Jules Vasquez,
You were on the road right after. You have any ides what may have caused it? I see the front wheels are intact, there wasn’t a blow-out apparently.

Beverly Castillo,
“It seemed the road is slippery because even when we tried to stop we skidded a little and so it was slippery and by accounts of the persons from the corner there, they didn’t see any speeding. All they saw was the vehicle flipping and so it seems that it is the road that created the vehicle slipping and then flipping.”

The airbags were activated and that’s what probably enabled his driver to walk out of the car. But the 68 year old Esquivel got the worst of it on the passenger side. He was taken by ambulance to the Western Regional Hospital, assessed and then taken to the Hector Silva airstrip in Belmopan, where his wife Kathy and a crowd of friends and personnel from the Ministry of Health saw him off. The wings of hope flew him to Belize City and form there an ambulance took him to Belize Medical Associates.

The full assessment took about an hour and a half and Dr. Fernando Cuellar briefed the press on his condition:

Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Attending Physician
“After a complete and thorough review along with some CAT scans, we have concluded that the only injuries that he has suffered is some facial, some bones in the face broken along with the jaw and a broken left shoulder. Fortunately the brain did not suffer any injury, his chest is good, its clear; the lungs, his vital organs in chest and also his abdomen.”

Marion Ali, News 5
“So the severity of the injuries, how serious are they?

Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“Well they are considered serious because they can affect his airways but he is stable.”

Marion Ali,
“And so you predict he will be in here for how long?”

Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“As it is right now, because of the nature of his injuries, we are planning to hold him between 24 hours and 48 hours and perhaps have him moved out of the country where maxillofacial surgeon and that type of care can be offered to him.”

Jules Vasquez,
What’s his prognosis for a full and complete recovery taking into consideration that he is not a spry young man?

Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“Well that is your opinion Jules that he is not a spry young man. He is in good spirits, he is helping us a whole lot, the family is there, and I am of the opinion that given his injury, he should make a complete recovery with some time of course.”

It is expected that Esquivel will be flown to Miami for treatment tomorrow.

As for Esquivel’s driver Billy Schnarr, he received a large gash to his head but has no broken limbs. He is recovering at the KHMH and complains of bruising and discomfort but a CAT scan showed no internal injury.

A few notes: first, it had been drizzling in the area around 8:00 and that left the road in a very slick condition. When our team arrived on the scene it was even slippery to walk on. Second, those sections of the road which are surfaced with the limestone are notorious to take on the quality of being almost greased when they are slightly wet. That is due to the nature of the limestone which was used in the re-surfacing about 8 years ago – which we note was done against expert advice in the Ministry of Works.

Because of the volume of accidents on the same stretch of road, Residents in the area asked that either speed bumps be placed in the area or that it be re-surfaced with river stones. But CEO Cadet Henderson today confirmed that The Ministry of Works is resurfacing the Western Highway and all limestone stretches which are slippery when wet – will be re-surfaced.

Third, Prime Minister Dean Barrow is out of the country; he is in Costa Rica along with Central American leader meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden. Still, he has been kept abreast of developments.

And fourth, it is an eerie coincidence that Esquivel was in a serious crash in that same area exactly 13 years and four days ago. Our archives show that on March 26, 1996, at the same 8:40 am, the then Prime Minister was being driven to Belmopan when his vehicle skidded off the highway at mile 33. His driver, Sargeant Leslie Staine died from the injuries he received a few weeks after, but Esquivel was unhurt and made it to Belmopan in time to attend the House Debate.

But, this time, the now 68 year old Senior Financial Advisor with Ministerial Rank was hurt and by tomorrow he should be in Miami for reconstructive facial surgery.