On Saturday, January 26th, at about 7:00 a.m., a red Toyota Forerunner SUV collided into a Tillett’s Bus, which was travelling from Belize City to Chetumal between Mile 31 and 32 on the Phillip Goldson Highway.
There was one fatality, which was the driver of the SUV, who died on impact at the scene. He was identified as 28-year-old Juvencio Serrano jr., a prisoner officer of a Faber’s Road address in Belize City.
Given the conditions of the road, there could have been more fatalities and it is my belief that the driver of the bus must be commended for his quick thinking and handling of the bus, a 70 seater, which had all seats occupied with no standees.
The head on collision was one that no one expected including the driver. There was no warning that the bus would have been hit. Everything happened so fast and on impact, all that could be heard were the screaming, and panicked cries of the passengers including the stern shouts of the bus conductor who was yelling for everyone to exit the bus immediately.
That was a challenge, however, as the entire engine of the bus had been pushed back into the front seat trapping the driver in his seat and causing a barrier to the main exit of the bus.
The conductor, however injured, was able to pry open the main door and that’s when the other passengers quickly exited despite their injuries.
It was a very frantic and chaotic scene to experience such a tragic accident!
On board, there were as many as 8 children and as young as one year old, who were travelling with their parents.
Most of the passengers who were injured got either a fractured nose or lacerations to the face among other visible injuries. Many were disoriented and in shock over the accident but shook off those feelings and began to help each other until the Belize Emergeny Response Team (BERT) arrived at the scene.
Onboard the Tillett’s bus was a police woman, who was also injured as she sustained a cut under her lower lip, which had to be bandaged. But despite her visible injury she was able to assist and the traffic scene, by keeping order on the road so that persons coming in from Belize City or the Philip Goldson Highway did not contaminate the accident scene.
Police and BERT arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the fatal collision. By this time, the driver who had been trapped in the bus had been removed after commuters were able to pry him free from behind the seat that had him pinned in.
It was fortunate that no life was lost onboard the Tillett Bus.
The driver, 58-year-old Carlos Herrera of San Jose Village Orange Walk, was seriously injured as he may have sustained two broken hands and a foot and a very serious cut to the neck area that made him lose a lot of blood at the scene.
He was rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital while the other passengers, who were injured from the bus, were taken by ambulance to the KHMH where they were all treated and released after some were ordered to take X-Rays to determine the degree of their injuries.
One nurse who was injured had various cut wounds to her head, and face and had shattered glass inside her ear. She was treated, placed on observations and released an hour or two later. About three young children were also treated as a walk-in patients after the accident.
