Roque Uh, 56, a farmer of San Jose Village, Orange Walk, is lucky to be alive after he was chopped by a man with a machete, who allegedly had tried to kill his son the night before.

Uh is now recovering from the chop wound at the Orange Walk Hospital, and police are searching for his attacker. The incident occurred about 2:30 Sunday afternoon in front of a Chinese store in the village.

Uh told police that the man was known to him only as “Max.” He said that on Sunday afternoon he and his son went to the store and while inside, Max suddenly came up and attacked his son, 18, with a machete.

A police constable who was working at the store intervened and tried to disarm Max, but the effort was unsuccessful.

Uh’s son ran to him, and when the elder Uh tried to protect his son, Max chopped him, then ran out of the store. Uh was then taken to the Orange Walk Hospital.

Uh told police that on Saturday evening, his son and Max were at a birthday party in the village when an argument ensued between them. His son left the party and went home to avoid an altercation.

The son said that while walking home, Max, who was lay-waiting him in some nearby bushes, jumped out and swung a machete at him. The son said that he ducked, and so escaped injury.

The young man then ran to his father’s (Roque Uh’s) house. It was when they went out later that Sunday that Max attacked him in the store.