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Crooked Tree Accident Claims Life Of 20 Yr Old
posted (August 7, 2017)
There was a traffic accident last night on the Phillip Goldson Highway that has claimed the life of a Crooked Tree resident. She's 20 year-old Alma Flowers, a UB student, and she was getting off a bus after going on a trip to Melchor.

While she was crossing the road, she was hit by a vehicle which was coming from Orange Walk. The driver, 25 year-old Leonel Del Valle, claims that he didn't see her. His vehicle hit her and flung her body forward, most likely killing her instantly, or shortly after the impact.

Today, we travelled to Crooked Tree to learn that she went to by school supplies for her upcoming classes, but that trip ended tragically, in her death. Here's what police and her uncle had to say about the accident:

Sr. Supt. Alden Dawson - OC, Rural Eastern Division
"Police visited the location on the Phillip Goldson International Highway at mile 31 somewhere in the vicinity of Crooked Tree junction, where they saw the motionless body of a female, lying on the left side of the road, coming from Orange Walk to Ladyville. The body was identified to be that of Alma Flowers. Information is that she alighted a bus, and shortly after doing so, she was hit by an oncoming vehicle, at the time driven by Lionel Del Valle. The vehicle was traveling from Orange Walk towards Ladyville as Well."

Voice of: Uriah Rhaburn Sr. - Uncle of the Deceased
"What I know is that she was heading home from Melchor De Mencos, from a day trip. She went to buy things for school because she was going to UB. Coming back, apparently, maybe she was hurrying or something - I don't know, maybe she was too hasty to get off the bus, and she didn't look left. I don't know. I can't say, but she got hit by a vehicle, which was going to Belmopan."

"We were in touch - my daughter was in touch with her most of the day, and the last text message she received was 7:21 p.m. I think she was in Gardenia Village, at that time, and I think she sent her 4 other texts, and she got no reply."

Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"The person who hit her in the vehicle, do you guys know who that person is?"

Uriah Rhaburn Sr.
"Well, I don't know him. I met him, but I can't remember his name. He lives in Belmopan, and he's a young man. I can say young, compared to my age, because he is like 25, but was there. He didn't go anywhere as the other media houses were saying that he ran from the area, that wasn't true. He was very cooperative."

"I did speak to him, but there were so many things going through my mind, I might not recall some of the things he told me. But, apparently, the bus had on its light and he didn't see anything. My observation, what I noticed on the vehicle, on the passenger side, the headlamp was broken only, no other damage on the vehicle, apart from the headlamp and the left fender was broken, which is what hit the young lady."

Sr. Supt. Alden Dawson
"At this time. Mr. Del Valle is here with us. He is presently detained."

Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"Often when tragedies happen, family members they get hurt, upset, and offended by the entire situation. Is it a situation that your family is mad with the gentleman who hit her."

Uriah Rhaburn Sr.
"Well, I can speak for myself, and from my immediate family, we are not mad. We are not happy that it happened, but we are not mad because, as I always tell other people, accidents can happen to anybody. It's not that you want to kill somebody. Nobody wants to kill somebody, but things just happen, and I think that it's time for us to ask our village council, and also the Government of Belize to assist us because it is not the first child that killed there. It's about 5 persons who got killed at that same spot. What I am requesting from them, or asking from them - begging from them, is to put a pedestrian ramp, at least that. When there is a pedestrian ramp, the drivers do adhere to it."

"She was a very jovial person, to be honest. She was such a sweet child. She never - I always mentioned her sir name, which we called her by, but whenever you can tease her, she won't get mad. There is always a smile, always a smile. I am not her dad, I'm her uncle, but she was like my child because whenever I needed her help she was always there to help me, especially my wife. She took my wife to the doctor. She assisted me in any way possible, and there was never a moment where she would say 'No'. She was go an extra mile to assist."

Her uncle tells us that she was very ambitious, working hard to continue her education at the University of Belize.

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