Engineer dies in collision on Western Highway

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wayne Williams, 45, an employee of the National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, died on the spot at around 6:30 on Tuesday evening when the white Toyota Tacoma he was driving in the direction from Belize City to Belmopan crashed head on into a bus belonging to Westline Bus Company.  The passenger bus had left the Belmopan Bus Terminal at 5:15 pm enroute to Belize City when the crash occurred.

Williams, by eyewitness accounts, attempted to overtake a red and white water truck that was parked on the highway with operational problems when he slammed into the bus coming in the opposite direction.  The water truck which belonged to a private company, bus passengers say, had given no sign that it was experiencing problems: no warning lights, makeshift sign on the road of tree branches.  Its driver, Ervan Augustine, 38, had stopped to repair a damaged tire.

The driver of the Westline bus, Stanley Ramclam, 32, said that he could do nothing to stop the impact.  After the collision, his windshield shattered, temporarily blinding him.  It was his passengers, he said, that guided him on how to steer the bus to a safe stop on the shoulder of the road some 935 feet away from the point of impact.

Ramclam himself complained of pain in the shoulders and back, but none of the 20 passengers, who were mainly government employees coming home to Belize City, were injured.

Wayne Williams was an employee of the National Emergency Management Organization before moving over just a short while ago to the Central Building Authority, reports say.  He leaves behind a wife, Lupita, and their children, the youngest of whom is ten months old.

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