A Twin Cities couple on a Valentine's weekend cruise in the Caribbean met with tragedy during a port of call in Belize, where a traffic crash left the woman dead and the man hospitalized with injuries, a family member said Wednesday.
Theresa L. Meuers, 55, of Minneapolis, died in the midday Tuesday collision while traveling to an inland community about 45 miles from the Yucatán Peninsula's Caribbean coast, according to Emily Meuers, the woman's niece.
An extensive news report by a Belize television station from the scene said the couple's taxi was about to turn and had pulled over to the right to first allow a semitrailer truck hauling oranges to pass. However, the truck hit the taxi, an SUV, from behind.
Samuel Schulte, seated in the back seat with Theresa Meuers, was initially reported to be critically hurt and hospitalized in Belize City, the niece and the TV station said.
By Wednesday afternoon, he was "doing a lot better and will be coming home in a few days," said the niece, who added that the U.S. Embassy in Belize has been regularly briefing the family.
"They were on the cruise for Valentine's weekend," said Emily Meuers, who lives in Florida and visited Paris with her aunt not long ago. "She loved to travel. She died doing the thing she loved."
Meuers worked for the Upper Midwest offices of Texas-based VHA Inc., a national network of nonprofit health care organizations. She joined VHA about a year ago from a position with Medtronic, an official with VHA's office in Edina said.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
