by Charles Gladden

BURRELL BOOM, Belize District, Wed. June 14, 2023

It has been confirmed that a man who lost his life on the Burrell Boom-Hattieville Road on Monday evening after being flung from the pan of a pickup truck is Oscar Rodas, 47, a Guatemalan truck driver of Tropical Park Real Estate.

According to initial police reports, a little after 5:00 p.m., a Dodge Dakota pickup truck with an aluminum trailer hitched to it was traveling toward Hattieville Village from the direction of the Philip Goldson Highway when another pickup truck rammed into it.

That second pickup truck (a Ford) was being driven by Marvin Cal, 25, a Belizean construction worker, and was heading in the opposite direction, when Cal lost control of his vehicle and collided into the driver’s side of the Dodge pickup, which was being driven by Gilbert Gillett, 40, who was accompanied by Joseph Segura, 22, and Abdul Myvett.

Inside the pan of the Ford pickup at the time were Oscar Rodas, Thomas Menensez, 23, and Rodel Coye, 47, from Hector Creek Road, Tropical Park, and as a result of the collision, all three were flung out of the pan of the truck and landed on the pavement. Menensez and Cal suffered a variety of bodily injuries and were transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for medical treatment along with Segura and Myvett, who received less severe injuries. However, Rodas was pronounced dead a few hours later by a medical doctor.

A urine sample was taken from Gillett and he was served with a Notice of Intended Prosecution.

Rodas’s death is the fourth traffic fatality to occur within 72 hours.

He leaves behind three daughters and was the sole breadwinner of his family.