Three Years Later, State to Compensate Families of Crash Victims

Three years after a tragic highway collision claimed the lives of two students from Centro Escolar Mexico Junior College, the High Court has ruled that the Government of Belize bears primary responsibility.

On October 11, 2022, 21-year-old Jorge Vargas and several classmates were travelling home in a taxi van when it collided head-on with an ambulance near Ranchito Village. Eleven were injured, and Vargas died at the scene, while 17-year-old Jaheem Williams died two months later.

The school mourned by erecting an altar in Vargas’ memory and planned to award his family an honorary associate degree.

In her ruling, Justice Lisa Shoman Nabi found that all three drivers contributed to the crash. However, she ruled that the ambulance driver and the state carried the greater share of responsibility, noting that the ambulance’s emergency lights and sirens were not activated. The ambulance, driven by Louis Canelo, was reportedly overtaking a truck on its way to the Northern Regional Hospital when the crash occurred.

The state must now compensate the victims’ families.