And while everyone made it out of the cave safely, over the weekend, an elderly man was killed while heading home in northern Belize. Around 9:30 on Saturday night, 74-year-old Romaldo Che was riding his bicycle on the San Estevan Road, heading towards Orange Walk Town, when a vehicle rammed head first into him. That vehicle then dragged his body some 500 feet, before the driver fled the scene without rendering aid. When police found Che, he had already passed away after sustaining a fractured skull, a broken left hand, and a large wound on his back.
Che had been living alone for the past ten years, doing odd jobs to take care of himself. Today, his wife and his daughter, both of whom live in Corozal, spoke to us about the moment when they realized that he'd been killed in a hit and run.
Eluteria Mendez, Wife of Deceased
"I learned about the accident - I hear about the accident about 11 o' clock, but I didn't go see, because they had already took the person to the morgue. He was going at his house. My two sons went at the police station to ask about him and what had happened and then the police said he got into an accident."
Gloria Mesh, Daughter of Deceased
"It's a sad feeling to know that someone out there, a careless driver have done this to a person and it's a really sad and emotional feeling the way how it happened. As I can tell you my dad and my mom had been separated for quite some time, but he always would come and visit us and what I remember about him - a lot of things changed about him, because of the relationship with him and my mom. But he always would come in nice ways to us and visit us - very friendly."
Reporter
"He was always a good dad?"
Gloria Mesh, Daughter of Deceased
"Yeah. In these hits and run accident cases, you normally don't get who did it, the person always gets free, but I know someone out there did this and they know what they did. So, today it could be somebody, tomorrow it could be somebody else. So what I would ask to the public, especially to the drivers - drive with more care and conduct, because there are lives out there of people. Because drinking and driving - I believe this is what lead to this, because if the person was driving without drinking, this would not have happened."
Che left behind 12 children.
Police are now asking for the public's assistance in finding the culprit.
