Pastor Dies in Crash Ahead of Son’s Wedding

A day meant for celebration turned into heartbreak in Stann Creek. A fifty-three-year-old pastor, Julian Bol, never made it to his son’s wedding. Early Saturday morning, Bol left Maya Mopan Village to pick up cooks for the big day, but tragedy struck on the highway. His passenger van slammed into a wooden house being transported, and in an instant, joy turned to grief. Tonight, the family is left asking how this could happen. Here’s what police know so far.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“Police are investigating a fatal traffic accident that resulted in the death of fifty-three-year-old Julian Bol, a Belizean pastor of Maya Mopan Village in the Stann Creek District. The investigation commenced on Saturday at approximately four forty-nine a.m. when officers attached to the intermediate formation were advised there was a traffic accident between miles thirty-seven and thirty-eight on the Thomas Vincent Highway in the vicinity of San Juan Village. The officers responded to this report and upon their arrival they observed a damaged wooden house that had become dislodged from a trailer that was transporting it and some eight hundred feet away in a pine ridge, a blue in color passenger van that also exhibited extensive damage. Onboard the blue passenger van was Julian Bol who appeared to have died on impact and a thirteen-year-old minor who suffered no injury. Initial investigation reveals that at approximately four thirty-five a.m. a convoy consisting of the trailer with he house affixed was travelling south bound heading towards Independence Village when the driver of the lead vehicle observed another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. The drive of the lead vehicle said that he sought to signal the driver of the oncoming vehicle by blinking his lights, however the vehicle continued to proceed and he heard a collision. Certainly as a part of the investigative course of actions, checks will be made as to whether the condition within the vehicle was being transported complied with the terms of the wide load permit that was issue.”