One person injured after bus crashes at the Belmopan Bus Terminal

A woman was hurt on Saturday night after a Westline Bus crashed into a desk at the Belmopan Bus Terminal. Just before 7:00 on October 15, the bus pulled up in front of the terminal and it is reported that the buses brakes failed, crashing into the desk that was outside the loading and unloading area. It was one of the supervisors at the terminal, who received injuries that weren’t life-threatening. Minister of Transport, Rodwell Ferguson took to Facebook right after the incident saying that his ministry intends to implement an inspection station and other measures. We spoke to him today in Belmopan on the sidelines of today’s House meeting.

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport: “In terms of the terminals we’re in government for three years. In Plan Belize we say that we are going to improve the road transportation service and likewise terminals across the country. And so hopefully before the five year term is over you will see the improvement nad maybe building new bus terminals across Belize. We have to find the funds to do it because we can’t be forcing the operators to upgrade their buses and then the terminal is  inadequate. The young lady’s name is Ms.Kimara Montes, she is the supervisor for the Belmopan terminal and she was not supposed to work on Saturday but her assistant supervisor was missing so she came in and she held two shifts for that day just to make sure that somebody is there at the supervisory level and she claimed she claimed that she was going outside when the bus was arriving and as she was going she realized the bus jumped the yellow stop sign so she said something was wrong so she decided to run out of the way. But while running I guess either a piece of the bus caught her – minor injuries thank God – and it could have been very very fatal because if someone was sitting at the desk that person would have been crushed between the bus and the wall. So that is an incident that we need to look at and say you know what these need to come to an end. I just told my transport people this morning before I came here I had a meeting and I told them within the next three months I want to see an inspection station across the country every public transportation must go there to be inspected at least every six months.”

Reporter: Have you heard any word from the bus company, the owner regarding that incident ? 

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport: “Yes I did and he rendered his regret about the incident and remember we are dealing with motor vehicles and anything can happen at any time even if the vehicle is brand new so he offered to assist the injured person in her hospital bill as we go along.”