Terrible Traffic Accident Leaves At Least 12 Dead, 16 Seriously Injured Near Santiago

(Panama-Guide) - La Prensa - SANTIAGO, Veraguas - Twelve people were killed, including one minor, and another 16 people were seriously injured in a multiple vehicle collision that occurred this afternoon on the Inter American Highway near the community of Los Cerros in the District of Santiago. In the accident an 18 wheeler, "International" make, with license plate number 956267 that was being driven by Francisco Vega, collided head-on into a bus with license number 9B-392 that was going from Panama to Santiago.

Facts - Dimas Flores, regional Director of the Ground Transit and Transportation Authority in Veraguas, said preliminary information indicates the accident occurred because the driver of the 18 wheeler, which was destined for Nata, in the province of Cocle, fell asleep behind the wheel. The first reports from traffic police say the 18 wheeler first collided with a sedan and then crossed over into the oncoming lane, where it collided with another sedan and then the bus full of passengers. Flores said the death toll, most occupants of the bus, is preliminary because another 16 persons with serious injuries have been taken to the hospital.

Forensics experts from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences are now at the scene of the accident and they are working to recover the bodies of those who were killed, while in the emergency room of the Luis Chicho Fabrega regional hospital there are hundreds of people who have come to ask for the names of those who were injured. The other two vehicles involved were a red Mazda 323 license plate number 292093, and a white Nissan Sentra.

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Original Source: Panama-Guide

Date Retrieved: October 26, 2010.