On Saturday morning before dawn - while most of us were asleep, hundreds of city residents poured into the streets for the annual juveey.
It is the pre-carnival event to get revelers into the mood for a day of bacchanal - and customarily it ends down by the river near the Belcan Bridge - with the early morning revelers washing themselves off.
And in-keeping with the early morning sense of chaos and disorder - the dozens of young men who were in the juveey clamber unto the rails of the Belcan Bridge for death-defying dives into the river which is about 15 feet above the river.
It's good fun but very dangerous - and that was demonstrated on Friday when 17 year old Jermaine Madrill drowned in all the ruckus.
The promising young athlete is believed to have been smothered as someone else accidentally jumped on him.
Search teams looked for him from Saturday morning and didn't unearth his body until the next morning - 24 hours later under the Belcan Bridge.
Today his father told us he just wants closure - to know what happened to his son who would have been 18 on Sunday September 16th.
Keith Madrill, Father
"My oldest brother called me and said that his son came home and said that he heard someone said that they think Jermaine jumped in and did not come out. He asks me if Jermaine was at home and I said no Jermaine went to juveey and he went to my father and slept there the night. I know he would be with his cousins, I tried calling my niece but she didn't answer, so I assume they were still at juveey. I called my father and he said that one of my nieces was at home and so I spoke with her. While I was talking to her I was walking to my father's house at the time, I told he that I was coming and I hang up and when I reach there I told them what I have heard."
"I went to Belcan Bridge (this was before 7)."
Monica Bodden
"From what you understand Mr. Madrill what happen to your son on Saturday?"
Keith Madrill, Father
"He jumped in and some people said that someone jumped on him. My little cousin said that he say Jermaine jumped in the water and he swam away and when he reached on the shore he notice that Jermaine wasn't behind him and he ask another friend if he saw Jermaine. He said no and when they looked again they saw him up and he was swimming coming towards them, so they continue talking. Then they notice that he was taking long. They saw him come up and a young man was holding him up, they figure that something was wrong. His cousin Ryan went in to try to assist but by the time he reach he spot he could not find Jermaine on the surface and so he dive down to try to find him and couldn't find him."
"The three of them are best friends. They are taking it very hard and like I said to other media houses that probably Ryan and calbert blamed themselves in some way and I hope that they don't blame themselves. Ryan and Jermaine are the only two swimmers, Calbert can't swim and Jermaine would have done the same for Ryan - go back and try his best to try and find him."
"The only thing that someone told us that yes they saw someone jumped on him (Jermaine) but if someone did jump on him we are not blaming them. It's a freak accident, if they don't mind come around at my father house and talk to me and say something, maybe they themselves got hurt and they manage to come out. We are not blaming anybody, it was an accident."
"Maybe the organizers for juveey would learn a lesson from day one as they saw people jumping into the river. I was against it. Last year was my son's first year that he went to juveey and I mention to him last year not to jump off the bridge. I learnt that he jumped off the bridge last year and I ask him to please don't jump off the bridge and he still did and we have to live with the fact that he is gone now."
Jermaine Madrill is the third Madrill to lose his life in Belize City since July 28th - all three, Wayne, Ian and now Jermaine were relatives.
The funeral for the recent fourth form graduate will be held tomorrow morning at St. John's Cathedral.
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