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BTB Driver Says Motorcyclist Veered Into His Lane In Double Fatality
Mon, July 28, 2014
When we left you on Friday night, it was with the tragic news that there had been a double fatality on the Northern Highway near mile 7. Two men on a motorbike were flung across the road when they collided into a Nissan Navarra. One of the men was found 13 feet away from the point of contact, the other was found 41 feet away.

Monica Bodden was out there on Friday night, and she has the full details in tonight's story:..

Monica Bodden reporting

The fatal traffic accident happened between miles 6 and 7 on the northern highway - at around 5:45 on Friday evening.

Traffic was backed up for miles and for hours as police processed the scene.

Facing towards Belize City - this gold Nissan Navarra - belonging to the Belize Tourism Board -is seen here on the extreme right of the highway with extensive damage to the left side of the vehicle.

Next to it was the wrecked motor cycle that 31 year old Duane Pelayo and 48 year old Gerald Gillett were travelling on when they lost control.

Both men died on the scene.

One body was seen about 13 feet away from the crashed vehicle and the other lay off the shoulder of the road on the opposite side of the highway.

After processing the scene for over an hour, the men's bodies were removed by police and taken away before of a crowd of spectators.

Supt. Chris Noble, OC - Ladyville
"The information we have presently is that the motorcycle rider and pinion rider were on their way to somewhere in this area, in Ladyville and collided, may have collided into the pickup. We are looking at what may have caused it. We did speak to the driver who was injured to some extent. We are looking at what may have caused either party to veer into whatever lane. Our indications may be one that one left his lane and collided into the other, or something else may have caused that fatality."

Howell Pandy - Eyewitness
"When the thing happen, I got out of my car and the one in the middle of road looks like he was dead, but the one on the fence was breathing for a while and then he stops and then we thought that he must have died too."

Mike Rudon, Ch 5
"I guess it massive head and body injuries."

Howell Pandy
"The one on the road, his whole face looks like it got torn off, he was face down and blood was coming out. The next one on the side over there didn't look like he was burst up but it looks like his feet were broken up."

40 year old Leslie Nicholas was the driver of the BTB pickup truck and was travelling in the direction towards Belize City. Nicholas told police that between miles 6 and 7 of the highway, he saw the black motorcycle that was travelling in the opposite direction suddenly serve into his lane. He tried to avoid the accident but the motorcycle which was driven by Pelayo slammed into the side of the pickup truck. Howell Pandy was travelling on the highway at the exact time of the accident and saw what happened.

Howell Pandy - Eyewitness
"I saw the cycle fly passed me and hit into a black truck on the side of the road. When it hit the black truck it cut away right into a BTB vehicle and right up in the air and flat on the ground."

Mike Rudon, Ch 5
"It seems that the BTB truck was on its side just from looking at it. Was the cycle overtaking or did it lose control when it knock the black vehicle?"

Howell Pandy
"It overtake the black truck and hit the mirror on the black truck and then it went over to the left and the BTB truck look like it was trying to get out of the way off the road, but it still hit him."

Today both families are grieving the loss of their loved ones. Gillett who was a security guard was getting a ride to work when he lost his life in the tragic accident.

Kimana Gillett - Sister-In-Law
"Actually Friday was his mother's birthday and so he came to his mom's house to wish her happy birthday and he was joking around with everybody as usual because he is a very loving person. He is always expressing his love to everybody in the family and he left for the bus terminal to go to work because he works up in Ladyville. When we got the news nobody expected that. Sitting down and think about his, the on word that keeps on resounding in my head is love. He was always full of love, always expressing love to everybody. Wherever he went he was so full of life and so energetic and so caring and always sincere about it."

The driver of the Nissan Navarra 40-year-old BTB Employee Leslie Nicholas received only minor injury.

Police are not yet saying who caused the accident - but Nicholas told the cops that the cycles swerved into his lane.

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