It didn’t make the news yesterday, but there was a disastrous traffic accident in Orange Walk town just after midnight on Saturday. It happened on the San Lorenzo Road where a full sized van and a Ford Ranger collided head on. 5 People were in the small Pickup truck, 3 crowded into the cab and two in the pan. So far, evidence suggests that only one man was traveling in the Van, and he ran away from the scene and it still at large. One of the only men to see him is Garrett Patten, who lives on San Lorenzo Road. Patten who is a trained nurse told our colleagues at channel 10 in Orange Walk that at 12:10 am, he heard something like an explosion outside his window, and when he ran out, he saw bodies everywhere.
Garrett Patten, Witness
“Coming to the corner over here, I saw this gentleman in the van trying to get this van started. While he was getting the van started he had put up his head and saw we coming and he took off running. He left one of his tennis shoes right here. I continued towards the van, I didn’t see the pickup truck at the time because of the high grass, it was all the way against my fence. So I continued proceeding and I stumbled over, I thought it was a log or something but when I really focused it was a body. I reached down and I flipped the individual over and he was breathing. He was breathing and so when I put my head up I saw another body underneath the dark blue van. So I moved towards him and I tried to revive him.
I heard this voice calling from inside the pickup, that’s when I noticed there was a pickup in the corner. So I went towards the voice and he said, ‘sir could you please help me, please help me.’ So I went there and I saw this impact was so fierce that three people were like all crushed together in the driver side. You had one on the passenger, one in the middle, and the driver. So I tried to speak to the one in the middle and he never responded and the driver, I saw his eyelid jumping up and down so I tried to talk to him also and he never responded either. So I decided to jump over the pickup and open the driver side door.
When I opened the driver side door, the pressure of the three bodies pushed me backwards and the driver was falling out so I hurry caught him. After we took him out of the truck, I remember that I stumbled over another body in the grass over there. So I had to stay with that individual because the other body
that I stumbled over, he was already conscious; he was just yelling for help also.”
Fortunato Noble, Channel 10
Was anyone of these people dead to your knowledge, to your best knowledge?
Garrett Patten,
“The middle passenger in the Ranger pickup truck, he never had any vital signs at all. I checked his breathing and there was none.”
Fortunato Noble,
Did you smell the aroma of alcohol?
Garrett Patten,
“No, the first thing in my training we are taught to do is smell for the smell of gasoline or diesel or anything like that which could cause an explosion and there was none of that. What was the actual smell was alcohol and blood.”
Traveling inside the pickup were Michael Vasquez, 19yrs, of Palmar Boundary Road Orange Walk Town; Ernesto Nah, 16yrs, of Sittee River Street Orange Walk Town; Noel Lopez, 18yrs, of Maxboro Sand Hill Village Belize District, and Lennon Magana, 21yrs, of West Landivar area Belize City. All of them received varying degrees of injury. Ernesto Castillo, 28yrs, a computer technician of Liberty Avenue Orange Walk Town was trapped inside the pickup and died. Several persons have been detained but none arrested by police.
