Initial reports of two bodies found at Mile 8 at the Western Pine, a community founded in the 1980’s, have turned out to be one of the most heartbreaking stories we have covered for the year.
At about 7:15 p.m., the news was that two bodies had been found, and it was assumed that they had been murdered, as is all too common these days, but we later learned that it was not a murder, but a heart-wrenching drowning.
When we reached the scene, some two miles away from the Western Highway, we met police mobile vehicles, along with a mournful crowd of family and friends, who stood around a pond in the Western Pine area.
Reports are that retired Sgt. Jean Morgan, who is in her late 50’s, and three grand children, one female, all below the ages of 10, had drowned in a pond, which is about a mile from where she lives.
At about 4:15 p.m. today, Morgan sent what would be her last text message to one of her nieces.
“I heard your health was bad, I am praying for you to get better soon,” the text message to the niece read.
Later that afternoon, Morgan a God-fearing individual, along with her four grandchildren, went for her usual dip in a pond not too far from where they live.
Morgan was taking care of the children while they played in the water, when suddenly she saw them go down a deep slope.
“This water is very tricky, I suspect that Mrs. Morgan was overseeing the children whilst they were in the water when the four slipped down a deep slope that is more than 8 feet in depth,” says one of Mrs. Morgan’s neighbors, Egbert Hispol, the person who retrieved the first two bodies, that of Morgan and the female grandchild.
According to Hispol, he had just return from work when another neighbor’s wife told him that something seemed to be wrong with Mrs. Morgan’s grandson, who she saw on Mrs. Morgan’s verandah. The child, 5, seemed to be in shock, and wouldn’t speak.
That was when they asked the child “Weh Granny deh?
The child appeared not to be able to speak. It was not until he was given a couple of biscuits that he was able to speak.
“Granny deh ina wata,” he said.
Hispol then rushed to the pond, but was not prepared for what he would encounter.
“After the child told me that his grandmother was in the water, it came to my mind that something bad had happened. I rushed out there and saw the bodies of Mrs. Morgan and the female child floating about a foot away from the shore. I then rushed back home to get assistance from the police. It was already getting dark.
What puzzles Hispol and the rest of the family, and friends, is that the child, the only survivor, made his way home from a mile away, by himself.
“That child is only five years old. I believe that after witnessing his grandmother and brothers drowning, he stood there shocked, and after a while, made his way back home,” said Hispol.
The bodies of Mrs. Morgan and a female child were recovered after the police came, and at around 8:30 p.m., Hispol retrieved the third body, that of a male minor. Mrs. Morgan had her eyeglasses clutched in her hand.
Due to limited lightning condition, locals were unable to find the fourth body.
Police called the Belize Coast Guard for assistance in retrieving the last body, also a male minor.
It was not until almost ten o’clock that they were able to retrieve the fourth body.
We spoke to Darren Morgan, 20, Mrs. Morgan’s youngest son, who appeared to be in total shock.
“I spoke to my mother at around 1:30 p.m., and we had the usual mother-and-son conversation. I had no idea this had occurred. I was in the City when I got the call that my mother, niece and two nephews had drowned.”
We managed to speak to quite number of friends, who all agreed that Mrs. Morgan was a darling at heart, God-fearing and loving.
What is so unusual about this story is that Mrs. Morgan, for the past week, had been going every day to this pond, and it was most ironic that in her last text message she tells her niece, “I am praying that you get better,” not knowing that she was not far away from her own demise.
Morgan leaves behind her husband of many years, Mr. Albert Morgan.
The three minors that drowned are the children of Karl Morgan, another of Mrs. Morgan’s sons.
The mother of the children is Naomi Reyes, who lives in Biscayne Village. The children had come to spend their Easter vacation at Mrs. Morgan’s home.
A picture we took of a body being removed is too heartbreaking to be published, especially as we offer our sincere condolences to the bereaved family of the victims.