majority of Ecuador, Haiti and Venezuela in accident bus

Fabio Abrego was on his way to work and was waiting for a bus at about 4:00 am in Gualaca, a Chiriquí province in Panama, about 50 kilometers from the Costa Rican border, when he heard the sharp braking of a vehicle . Within minutes everything was crying, screaming and noise.

Abrego was one of the witnesses to the traffic accident that occurred in the area when a bus carrying some 66 migrants to a migration shelter in Los Planes plunged into a ravine.

“I heard the bus…. She braked her, and I heard the noise. I saw two dead children below and a lady who was trapped on top of the glass of the bus. There was a man without a hand, another without a head lying on the other side… it was traumatic,” Abrego told the Voice of America.

In total, at least 41 people have died, according to the latest report issued on Thursday afternoon by the Panamanian government, and some 22 are being treated in various hospitals in the country.

Most of the passengers traveling on the bus that crashed were migrants from Ecuador, Haiti and Venezuela, Panamanian authorities reported on Thursday.

One of the worst accidents in recent years

The accident, which has been considered by doctors and locals as one of the worst tragedies in the last 30 years in Panama, has also mobilized the government, which set up local hospitals to care for migrants.

According to the Panamanian government, of the total of 66 migrants transported in the bus that had an accident, 22 are from Ecuador, 16 from Haiti, 11 from Venezuela, 6 from Brazil, 5 from Colombia, 2 from Cameroon, 2 from Cuba and 1 from Nigeria.

Rolando Gabriel, medical director of the Rafael Hernández hospital, where the patients who survived are hospitalized, 8 are in intensive care and the others in the surgery room.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) there were about 65 people, all the hospital staff were prepared for this,” the doctor told the VOA. “Fortunately we were prepared and all the services were fine, from stretcher bearers to ambulances and paramedics, people from internal medicine, surgery and orthopedics, intensive care, neurosurgeons were in the emergency room and all the residents came in to see what they could do in the emergency room. emergency room,” he added.

The specialist indicated that there are patients who are stable, but in a delicate condition and several have fractures “of all kinds.”

“There is a patient who had multiple fractures in only one arm. Most of them are leg fractures, pelvic, humerus, and shoulder fractures, which are the most common we find, and polytrauma in surgery that are under observation, ”he explained.

Andoni Morales, a driver in the area, said that at the scene of the accident they often occur because of the fog and “because of the overconfidence” of some drivers.

“It is a mountainous area. Sometimes it gets very foggy. I think that a lot of overconfidence, more than anything, is very dangerous. People don’t know the street, they trust each other and at any moment a curve can surprise you, as in the case of what happened to the bus”.

“It is presumed that the man passed the entrance to the migrant center… then he went around and was surprised by the curve, he was also speeding. It is what they say, ”he added.

In addition to the migrants, there are two Panamanian people who were traveling on the bus who died, as well as the driver.

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