By Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 21, 2025
A teenage boy was killed in a Jet Ski accident that occurred on Saturday, July 20, in the Belize River near Maya Princess Casino, located at the foot of the Haulover Bridge at Mile 5 on the Philip Goldson Highway.
The incident occurred a little after 3:00 p.m. The deceased teen, 14-year-old Axel Oroman, and 55-year-old Roy Alvarez had been riding a Jet Ski in the river when they reportedly fell into the water. Alvarez was able to swim to shore; however, Oroman was unable to swim and sank under the surface of the Belize River.
Lifeguards from Maya Princess Casino tried to rescue him, but their efforts failed. On the following day, members of the Belize Coast Guard retrieved Oroman’s body from the water, and he was pronounced dead after being transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.
Neither Oroman nor Alvarez was wearing a life jacket before the accident occurred, said ASP Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander of the Belize Police Department’s Eastern Division. He further mentioned that Oroman allegedly stole the watercraft and drove it, with Alvarez as his passenger, to the area where the accident took place.
To operate a Jet Ski in Belize’s waters, a permit is required, ASP Romero told reporters, and that statement was reiterated to Amandala by Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard.
“The legal requirement is for you to have a legal watercraft license, and you obtain that from the Belize Port Authority. The 14-year-old certainly did not have a valid license to operate a watercraft. So, that is a violation,” he said.
“There are other considerations as well. On what we have gathered, the Jet Ski was not registered with the [Belize] Port Authority, so it was an unlicensed watercraft as well. It is a series of mishaps and bad decision-making in this incident,” Rear Admiral Bennett continued.
Rear Admiral Bennett also explained that Oroman’s body was not found until the following day due to poor visibility, and he also noted that the area is known for its tough terrain.
“You have river currents that you’re dealing with, long shore along the coast, and you have the tidal changes that make it a difficult area to calculate the most probable of the search object. From the initial incident, some individuals had tried to rescue the young man, but that was unsuccessful,” he said.
Oroman’s body was found about 50 to 60 feet below the river’s surface.
