And, in other news, tonight a single mother of 5 is dead and her 9 year old daughter is in the hospital. This is after a tragic accident on Friday evening when two of them were walking in the village and got hit by a large pickup which had veered across the road. Here's more:
Tonight, 9 year old Janet is in the hospital - after she survived the accident that killed her mother.
On Friday evening Betty Rivera and Janet were walking here in Santa Familia when this GMC pickup hit them
Silas Sabal, Vice Chairman Santa Familia "On Friday just a little bit after 3:00 she was walking down this very lane with her 9 year old daughter and for some reason she got knocked down."
Police say the driver of the GMC truck lost control.
ACP Hilberto Romero, HNCIB
"Upon arrival they saw a GMC pickup with damages - the driver was identified as Godson Evorwoshie. He reported that he was driving a pick up when he lost control hitting 2 persons that were standing at the street side. One of them Elizabeth Carias received fatal injuries."
"Godson has since been arrested and charge for manslaughter by negligence, causing death by careless conduct and drove motor vehicle without due care and attention."
Silas Sabal, Vice Chairman Santa Familia
"The GMC that knocked down Betty and Janet, her 9 year old daughter - they were coming from this direction and the guy he was on the wrong side of the road doing something, distracted by what I don't know. But he ended up on the left hand side of the road."
"Now when this vehicle knocked her down it fling this lady far and her daughter was to one side of the drain, she was on the other side of the drain."
"Quick response by residents of the community, like that natural instinct - they just want rush you to the hospital. So they grab the little girl and they took her to the hospital. The mom they were trying to take her to the hospital as well, but she was bleeding so badly, because she had an injury to the lower spinal area and she was bleeding."
"I saw her on the ground and her muscles it was like trembling and when I touched her neck, her pulse was fading so rapidly."
It faded right there on the shoulder of the road - and now a Family of 5 has been left without their sole provider:
Silas Sabal, Vice Chairman Santa Familia
"So the sad thing about it is that this lady Betty have 5 kids. One of the kids, the one who got hurt she is in standard 4. She has an older daughter who is in 3rd form. Now they are going to be without their mom and she is a single parent. That's another sad thing about it."
"We really want to see what we can do for the kids, so I want to take the opportunity to ask the public, ask Belizeans at home, Belizeans abroad to see what we could do to help these kids."
And, if you want to help the family you can send deposits to the Belize Bank account of Giselle Rivera, # 241697010160000.
