Christmas Day, for most Belizeans, is a time to celebrate and show love and appreciation for family. But for four families, the spirit of Christmas may never be the same, as it was the day when their loved ones perished while traveling along the Philip Goldson Highway. A group of four friends, including twenty-two-year-old Hector Gongora, who was visiting from the United States, was killed when the vehicle they were traveling in crashed into a tree near Ladyville. News Five’s Duane Moody has the tragic story.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The spirit of the Christmas season for four families was shattered on Christmas Day when they got word sometime after four-thirty p.m. on Wednesday that their loved ones died in a fatal accident on the Phillip Goldson Highway between miles seven and eight. Driver, twenty-two year old Hector Daniel Gongora was heading to his house in the Lake Gardens Community in Ladyville when, after taking the curve where the Williamson Sewing Factory once stood, he lost control of the Isuzu D-max pickup truck and slammed into a tree on the left side of the highway. Gongora and his three passengers died on impact.
Voice of: ASP Christopher Noble, Rural Executive Officer, Police Department
“Yes there was an accident on the Phillip Goldson Highway in the area of mile seven and eight. We did have response from the police department with very good support from the airport authority personnel rescue unit and the B.D.F. as well as personnel from Belize City. We managed to take four persons that had passed and today the doctor was working and has done all four postmortems. We are continuing to look at what may have caused this incident because there was a high level of violence to this accident.”
Omar Gongora, Father of Accident Victim
“The pickup really, the cabin of the pickup, the top of the pickup knock the two trees and it really sandwich them they really couldn’t take them out like that and they had to call the fire service to cut the top of the pickup to take them out.”
Twenty-year-old Henry Gabriel Reyes, seventeen-year-old Dulce Yanira Cobb and twenty-three-year old Shakir Shamir Monima were traveling along with Gongora and perished in the accident.
Last Friday, Hector returned to Belize from Houston, Texas where he was studying Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology at the University of Houston. He was to return next week but his life was cut short.
Omar Gongora
Omar Gongora
“He and my daughter went out the twenty-fourth and they come back like three, or four the morning and he woke about ten, eleven. He decided to clean my pickup—he and a next guy, a friend of his. I was upstairs and he used the pickup to get his two friends in Belize. And when I ask ih mommy weh di pickup deh? Ih say Daniel gone out. I said okay I will call him to see where he is. And when I called his number, ih didn’t really answer; that was about twenty past four. I ring again and nobody answer. About five minutes after, we get a call from one of my sons and who told him that it seems to be that my pick up run into an accident. I said it only could be my son, but it deh dah eight miles ih tell me. So I tell my wife, hurry let’s go. When we see, the first thing I see it was my plate and I said it’s my pickup. but this is when I see two bodies already out and then I see how dehn take fi he one out and the other guy out.”
According to Rural Executive Officer of the Police Department Assistant Superintendent Christopher Noble, investigations continue into what could have caused the accident.
Voice of: ASP Christopher Noble
“It is a one vehicle accident and that vehicle had some level of impact on a tree off the road. However, to tell you anything else would be very new at this stage because we still don’t know what may or may not have caused the accident. There are several factors that we are looking into and we are going to cover all of them. We are looking at all factors; there may have been some factors that we have so far overlooked that we are still looking into. To say that the road condition may have played a role, I would not be able to say at this stage. That is for us in our investigation to continue to look into.”
Hector Daniel Gongora
For the Gongora family, this is the second son to have perished at a young age. First, the death of eighteen year old Ryan Gongora in 2000 and now, the death of their youngest son, Hector.
Omar Gongora
“In 2000, I lost one of my sons eighteen years old. It is really a shock that you get. I praise the lord that I am really. I am a Christian and he teaches me with wisdom to face the situations like this. So I just bolt myself and go forward; that’s how I take it.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
All four died on the spot. The postmortem results are as follows: Hector Gongora died of severe brain injury; commuted facial and skull fractures. Henry died from traumatic shock syndrome due to chest and abdominal injuries. Dulce Yanira Cobb died of avulsion of head and neck. And Shakir Shamir Monima died from severe head and liver injuries due to the road traffic accident. A funeral service will be held for Hector Gongora on Saturday morning at Divine Mercy Church on the Phillip Goldson Highway.
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