Three Belize City residents were killed in a terrible car crash this morning on the Northern Highway. Just before 11, the 33 year old driver Atilio Ulloa was on his way to Orange Walk along with 21 year old Cecilia Melgar and 24 year old Mark Pacheco in his Jeep Commanche. But they never made it to orange walk because less than two miles outside of town, their three lives came to a violent and hideous end. Keith Swift has the story of one of the worst crashes we’ve ever seen.
Keith SwiftReporting,
This dramatic video shot moments after this morning’s horrific accident shows police and emergency personnel removing decapitated heads and other body parts of the three persons killed. All three were in this now crushed and blood soaked green Jeep pickup enroute to Orange Walk when it experienced a blow-out between miles 48 and 49 on the Northern Highway in Carmelita Village. The driver
lost control and skidded off the road – and slammed into the back of this parked heavy duty cargo truck.
Sharon Reynolds, Witness
“I heard like this big bang noise and I am a driver too and I so I know it was a tire that bursted and so then as soon as that happened, I saw that the pickup truck swerved a little bit more to the right so I shouted and said Lord help this guy that he is able to swerve out from…because I could have foreseen what would have happened.”
Andres Moreno, Witness
“I saw this pickup coming from Belize side coming to go to Orange Walk side under speed, I would say 90 to 100 the most, and when it got right here so, directly here his tire just burst and the man tried a lot to just try get back but it looks like when his tire burst, the rim broke and he slid straight into the pickup back.”
Sharon Reynolds,
“I just heard the big banging again and I saw the impact and so I just left my bag there and I started to run. It was just a few ways and I shouted to my brother and I said let’s run because probably we could help them.”
But there was little Sharon Reynolds or anyone could do. The force of the collision of this small pickup launched the parked ten wheeler cargo truck 20 feet forward. The pickup was crushed and two of its three occupants were killed instantly and violently on impact.
Sharon Reynolds,
“I already peeped in there and I saw a head was in the back of the pickup and that was the part that really affected me. I started to shake.”
Andres Moreno,
“When I got there I see the guy that was driving, his whole head came off and the girl, who was sitting in the middle, his whole head came off too but the guy on the right hand side, on the passenger side, he was still kind
of alive. He was still breathing and thing but I don’t know why they didn’t take him out of the vehicle or try to help him because when the ambulance got there, the people were still there but the man breathed a few more times and the man stopped breathing and passed away. He died.”
Marcela Moreno, Witness
“When I reached there I just saw the two person’s head came off, the boy and the girl, their head was off. And then the next one over the next side all of us went over there because he was breathing and I told them to call the police and tell them that the man is still alive so come and check and no one wanted to move the body but we were checking the pulse to see if he was alive but he was breathing because I saw his belly moving and I said oh my God it is ugly because it is the first time I experienced an accident like this. The whole neck off the lady came off and the head stayed over the next side of the pickup back and the whole face from she was teared, ugly. And then it looked like the iron went into the next boy’s head and so it looked like he was fighting for his life.”
It took an hour to remove the victims and the first victim removed was the driver – who has now identified to us as this man: Atilio Ulloa. The passenger seated in the middle – was a female, 21 year old Cecilia Melgar. She too
was killed on the spot – both their heads had been severed – which presumably happened when the pickup slid under the cargo truck.
The third victim is 24 Mark Pacheco whose body was intact and died on the scene – and witnesses say he was gasping for breath before passing. All three were travelling in the single cab pickup to Orange Walk. Police recovered one gun and this plastic bag from the car. All witnesses say the green truck was speeding.
Andres Moreno,
“I saw the pickup coming under speed.”
Marcela Moreno,
“The guy that crashed, my mom said that he was coming fast, so fast he was coming and then she said oh an accident occurred and it happened and I saw that it was the same pickup truck, the green one that just came in a speed. But it looked like he lost control.”
And while the death toll from today’s horrific crash was staggering, it wasn’t all that surprising or startling to those who live along this stretch of highway in Carmelita Village. For years they have been complaining about the problem of speeding. In fact they said there have been previous deaths
and with the additional three today, they hope now that someone will finally listen.
Andres Moreno,
“Many people lost their lives out here and I would really appreciate for the government to try help the village people to set some bumps because many children and people lose their lives right here check. The other day a young lady, a little school girl lost her life right out here too and people just losing their lives like that. It is best they set a little bump.”
Sharon Reynolds,
“I’ve been asking for it ever since I’ve been teaching here, now I am going to further my education, but I am pleading to them now. I am so sorry that it had to take something like this but probably they will get our attention now. My sympathies go out to the families, I don’t really know who they are but I am very sorry about it. I am still shaken, I just wish they hear us today and do something about it, maybe put in some speed bumps or finish the bypass or something that will cause people to slow down, to realize that when you are driving a vehicle you can never tell what will happen. But I am sure that if the speed bump was out there today, those guys wouldn’t have died.”
The footage taken just after the accident was courtesy of our friends at CTV Channel 3 in Orange Walk. Again the confirmed dead are the 33 year old driver Atilio Ulloa, 21 year old Cecilia Melgar who was seated in the middle, and 24 year old Mark Pacheco was seated on the passenger side. He is a mechanic and according to his family, he was heading to Orange Walk to finish a job. They say mark doesn’t carry a gun and so if anyone gun was recovered – it wasn’t his. On a sad note – Mark Pacheco was expecting his first child.
The official police story is that Ulloa suffered a right tire blow out and that sent his Jeep Comanche into the back of the parked truck. The owner of that truck is Ilene Flowers.
