And there was another life lost on the road this weekend – but this one happened with the BDF in the Caracol area of the Cayo District. It happened in the general area we introduced you to last week in our series on the Chiquibul forest. The 8 soldiers in this case were traveling to the same Valentin Camp area that we did. Except these troops were returning from a military to military meeting with the Guatemalan Armed forces with whom they conducted a joint border patrol.
But they never got back to camp because at 8:30 am – in the area of Tapir Camp in the Chiquibul forest the 4 tonne Bedford truck which is identical to this one we travelled in suffered an unspecified mechanical failure. The driver could not maintain control, and he ran off the road, causing the massive truck to roll over; it landed with its four wheels in the air. The seven soldiers in the back were violently flung from the vehicle and all sustained injury.
Five soldiers were initially transported by BATSUB helicopter to the KHMH where one of them, 32 year old Private Lucas Teck from San Benito Pointe was pronounced dead on arrival. The Deputy Commandant of the BDF Col. Javier Castellanos told us more.
Lt. Col. Javier Castellanos, Deputy Commandant – BDF
"Yesterday morning at about 8:30 a BDF vehicle was returning from Caracol, a routine patrol bringing back soldiers coming off of patrol. At the Caracol junction the vehicle experienced a mechanical problem. Our initial preliminary investigation indicates there was some sort of mechanical failure and that caused the vehicle to overturn.
They were seated in the pan of the truck and the commander of the vehicle and the patrol was seated at the front of the vehicle."
Jacqueline Godwin,
"How many were injured?"
Col. Javier Castellanos,
"A total of 8 of them were injured."
Jacqueline Godwin,
"Apparently one lost his life, do you know how this happened, did he break his neck or something?"
Col. Javier Castellanos,
"Well we haven't received the medical report as yet from the KHMH so we do not know what led to his death as yet.
We do emphasize on safety however at this time as mentioned before we suspect it was more than likely a mechanical failure of the vehicle."
Teck had recently re-enlisted with the BDF in February of this year. He had first served from 2001 to 2004. He was from Echo Company in Orange Walk which – as we understand it - has been brought into the Chiquibul to bolster patrols. The other injured soldiers are Lt. Edwin Olivera, Pvt. Leopold Chen, Cpl. Adan Cal and Pvt. Kent Norales. They received mostly minor injuries were being discharged this evening. More seriously injured were Lance Cpl. Vivas, and Pvt. V. Cante who were reported in critical condition but they are now stable. So what caused the truck to crash so violently? What was the mechanical failure? According to our sources, the brakes failed. Though known for their durability the British – made BEDFORD trucks are notoriously hard to service because parts are not available locally.
Late this evening, the BDF confirmed that the driver Private Norales did report that the brakes failed. The force senior command say that report is being investigated, and gave an assurance that they have done all they can to ensure that the vehicles are road worthy and looked after.
