7 News Belize

A Frightening Number of Weekend Traffic Accidents, Two Fatal
posted (March 24, 2014)
For the Month of March alone, there have been 10 traffic fatalities, 6 of which happened on the Northern Highway in the jurisdiction of the Ladyville Police. Tonight we report on 6 more accidents which happened over the weekend - 4 of them in the Belize District.

There were 2 fatalities among this weekend's victims, but we start with the story of a survivor: 3 year-old Romeo Flores Jr., who remains in the hospital in a critical condition.

On Saturday afternoon, the child was knocked down by a bus which was traveling through the Scotland Half Moon area after his family and he attended church.

Today, 7News spoke with police and his father about what happened:

ASP Chris Noble - Rural Executive Officer
"Our traffic incidents; we had one in Scotland Halfmoon, persons were exiting an area where there is a church, traffic may have been thick and a child was knocked by a passenger bus traveling towards one of the villages. The child was rushed to the hospital and is being attended to there."

Romeo Flores Sr. - father
"I was there when it happened, I saw it and I was getting ready to get my little boy when at the same time he ran across the road and the bus was coming. He attempted to turn back, but he didn't make it back. He was in a critical condition. When the bus hit him he fell about 30-40 feet away and he was bleeding on his right head side. My wife and I took him to the hospital."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, can you describe that moment being there, you are trying your best to rescue him but the bus came before you could react"

Romeo Flores Sr. - father
"I was left shocked for one second because to see your child get hit like that - it was really shocking."

Flores' accident comes 5 days after 8 year-old Kyeisha Joseph was knocked down in front of her school in Ladyville. Earlier this month, 3 year-old Ashley Silva lost her life in an accident outside of Burrell Boom Village.

Romeo Flores Jr. is currently recovering from a fracture skull, swelling on the brain, a broken arm, a broken leg, and a broken pelvis. He's had major surgeries done to treat his wounds, and he is in the ICU.

His accident was but 1 of 4 that Ladyville police had to respond to, and the Rural Executive Officer told the media about the other 3:

ASP Chris Noble - Rural Executive Officer
"We had another traffic mishap where Saturday night, sometime after seven, two vehicles were involved in a minor accident. The vehicles were extensively damaged in the area of mile eleven - that is where El Cas used to be. The injuries were very minimal thankfully, but again vehicles and lives continue to be disrupted by the accidents."

"Yesterday, on Sunday we did received information of a vehicle that had overturned and 2 persons were injured. The area right before the Burrell Boom cut off traveling from Ladyville towards Burrel Boom - it is a curve. The vehicle ran off the road and may have overturn several times. There is severe damage to the vehicle. Persons, at least 2 were inside the vehicle, they were assisted by the ambulance personnel. We did contact the military personnel and their ambulance did visit. Thankfully there were medical officers who were passing by and assisted."

"There was another traffic mishap that had occurred in the area near the Crooked Tree junction. We have the information that we gathered from someone that did come in and we did have the other party - both parties have come in and we did record that traffic mishap. That was very minor; however, some part of it may be attributed to road rage."

To try to deter the alarming spike of traffic accidents in their area of control, Ladyville police are cracking down on all traffic violations. They are increasing their presence on the road to try to deal with reckless driving.

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