A devastating Sunday night head-on collision has left three people dead and a tight-knit northern Belize community grappling with unthinkable grief, after a pickup truck carrying a group of local residents crashed into a sugar cane-hauling semi-truck just outside August Pine Ridge Village in the Orange Walk District.
The fatal crash occurred when the red Ford F-150 pickup, traveling in the opposite direction of the 18-wheeler Freightliner truck that was pulling two wooden trailers full of harvested sugar cane, collided directly with the left front section of one of the trailers. The force of the impact was catastrophic: more than half of the pickup’s driver-side roof was sheared off, the vehicle careened out of control, and three of its occupants were killed instantly. Broken debris from the sugar cane truck still lines the side of the highway, a visible marker of the collision’s violent force.
Authorities have officially identified the three victims as 35-year-old Byron Magaña, his partner 32-year-old Sherlin Henriquez, and 29-year-old Selvin Cortez, all local residents from nearby San Felipe and August Pine Ridge. Surviving the crash were Cortez’s wife and the couple’s two young children, who sustained non-fatal but serious injuries and remain hospitalized for treatment. Out of concern for the woman’s severe head trauma, law enforcement initially delayed informing her of her husband’s death.
All three deceased worked together as drivers at Tillett’s Bus Service, and were close friends who often took weekend trips together. Polo Magaña, Byron Magaña’s father, told local outlet News Five that the group had headed to Corozal for their weekend outing, as they had done many times before. The grieving father said he still cannot process the sudden loss of his son and his partner, who had lived on his family property for the past year. “I cant believe it, I can’t believe that is happening to me. My good young son, very, very good,” he said. “I will really miss them. He and his wife. His wife was a very good person too.”
For 17-year-old Christopher Cruz, the loss of his uncle Selvin Cortez has left an especially painful void. Cruz told News Five that he was getting ready for bed when family arrived to tell him about the crash, and he never expected the outcome to be fatal. When he reached the crash site, he broke down at the sight of the destroyed pickup. Cruz recalled that just recently, when he asked his uncle for help buying a motorcycle to launch his own welding business, Cortez agreed immediately without hesitation. “He was a good person. Whenever I wanted a favor he was always there for me,” Cruz said. “He helped me buy my bike. When I asked him he said, yes. He never said, no.”
Assistant Superintendent Stacy Smith, staff officer for the district, shared preliminary details of the ongoing investigation, confirming the sequence of events that led to the tragedy. As authorities continue to piece together the full circumstances of the collision, three local families are now left to mourn lives cut far too short, while the surviving mother and her two young children begin what is expected to be a long physical and emotional recovery. The sudden tragedy has sent shockwaves through the small community, where nearly everyone connected to the victims is sharing in the pain of the loss.
This report is adapted from on-the-ground coverage by Paul Lopez for News Five.