Late this afternoon a Mennonite farmer and his wife were killed instantly when the Kia Sportage they were in crashed head on into an 8 wheeler delivery truck. The tragedy unfolded between around 4 pm at mile 24 and a half on the Northern Highway – which is Biscayne Village. The delivery truck was for Courts Belize Limited while the Kia Sportage was driven by Henrich Pactkau who was along with his wife Helina Pactkau. They were heading home to Shipyard Village.
It was an ugly scene – traffic was backed up for an hour and our 7NEWS team was the first there. Keith Swift spoke to an eyewitness who heard the bang. We also spoke to Sgt. Lawrence Humes, acting Commander of Ladyville Police.
Witness to Accident,
“I heard, not see. When I came out on the verandah I saw one truck. I did not realize that there was another vehicle involved, not until I came out on the road and then I saw the tail end of the other vehicle in front of the truck and then I realized what took place. After I realized it was an accident involving two vehicles, I went for my sister who is a nurse that was here in Biscayne on sick leave, she came and she took a check and realized there was nothing basically we could do so I just went back and got some cones that we use in our trucks and we put them on the road and tried to direct traffic to
the best of our ability until police came and when they came, they just took over.”
Keith Swift,
What were the conditions of the people inside?
Witness to Accident,
“Man it is not a pretty sight, that is all I am going to say. I didn’t stay long enough to really take it in but its not pretty all.”
Keith Swift,
Sir you went to the vehicle, were any of the occupants, were you able to communicate to any of them?
Witness to Accident,
“I won’t be able to tell you that because I didn’t get that close but from what I could see there was no movement whatsoever.”
Sgt. Lawrence Humes, Acting Officer in Command of Ladyville Police
“At about 3:30 pm we received information from Belize City of a fatal traffic accident including two vehicles. On receiving information we got in touch with the medical personnel and the fire service as per routine and the Scenes of Crime personnel from Belize City and we came out here on the scene and we noticed both vehicles, the traffic accident. Upon making checks we saw two lifeless bodies in the Kia Sportage. At present we are getting the scene processed and we will be clearing up the traffic and getting out the bodies and transporting them to the KHMH morgue.”
Keith Swift,
Have you determined what exactly happened?
Sgt. Lawrence Humes,
“Well there was no eyewitness at the moment, just a person in the area that heard a large noise, a large bang and upon coming out here noticed the vehicles in the accident.”
When we left the scene at 5:30 – the bodies were still trapped inside the Sportage which as you saw completely demolished by the 8 wheeler. The driver of the Courts truck was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. A representative from Courts Belize says the driver isn’t an employee, he is a contract worker.
