BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 4, 2022– A daylight motorcycle traffic accident in Santa Elena Town, Cayo District, claimed the life of a member of the La Ruta Maya River Challenge team,”Faya Boyz” sometime after 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. And on that same day, at around 10:35 p.m., Lorelli Tzib, the wife of police officer ASP Nazario Tzib, died in a traffic accident that occurred near a wooden bridge outside the village of Selena at the end of the Spanish Lookout Road.
Twenty-six-year-old Isaiah Sandoval was riding a motorcycle, on which a 16-year-old female minor was a passenger, on George Price Street near Arts Welding Shop when they collided with another motorcycle, driven by 20-year-old Nigel Ramirez, who had been approaching from the opposite direction.
Both Sandoval and the female minor received head injuries, but while the young girl’s injuries were deemed non-life-threatening, Sandoval, unfortunately, passed away after being rushed to the San Ignacio Hospital. Twenty-year-old Ramirez also received injuries, including one broken limb, and was transported to the hospital, where he was treated and later released.
Police are currently awaiting a toxicology report to determine whether alcohol was a factor that contributed to the collision of both motorcycles. Sandoval was a member of the Faya Boyz team that participated in the Belikin La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge last month.
Police are also investigating a fatal traffic accident that claimed the life of Lorelli Tzib, wife of ASP Nazario Tzib. According to initial reports, police arrived at the scene of the accident outside Selena Village on the Spanish Lookout Road at about 10:35 p.m. and saw a white Isuzu pickup truck overturned in a stream near a one-lane wooden bridge. They then discovered a woman, later identified as Tzib—a 45-year-old resident of San Ignacio Town— trapped inside the pickup, while her husband, a police officer, ASP Nazario Tzib, lay in a semi-conscious state on the side of the road.
Police investigations revealed that ASP Nazario Tzib was traveling to Selena Village from Spanish Lookout when he lost control of the vehicle, which careened off the wooden bridge and overturned.
Nazario Tzib was transported to the San Ignacio Hospital for treatment; however, his wife, Lorelli Tzib, succumbed to her injuries.
Communications Director for the Police Department, ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, told local media that there were no guardrails on the bridge toward which Tzib had been driving—making it an area in which accidents are more likely to occur. He also stated that the accident could have been a result of mechanical failure.
According to ASP Yearwood, ASP Tzib gave an interim report to the officers who went to the scene of the accident, and a thorough investigation is being done.
“He [Tzib] gave an interim report to the officers. Like I said, dealing with what took place and realizing that your loved one lost her life, we have to be very gentle with how we approach a situation like this. We’re not giving him any preferential treatment, but at the same time we must realize the psychological effects of what took place out on that night, and I am certain investigators know how to approach this and will do it in the best interest of Mr. Tzib and the public that is waiting and listening, because of course we want to give the quickest version of what took place and the best version. At the same time, we want to be very thorough with our investigation,” stated ASP Yearwood.
ASP Yearwood noted during a police press briefing that all the necessary procedures and tests have been done, and he extended his condolences to ASP Tzib and his family.