NewsWhore
01-31-2012, 01:50 PM
One man died and more than a dozen people, including seven tourists from the United States, were injured, when the Caribe Tours bus they were traveling in went off the road and down into a gully on the Jarabacoa-La Vega highway.
The fatality was Julio Lugo, the bus driver, who died on the way to the hospital, according to a statement by the La Vega Civil Defense director, Jackeline Polonia.
Rescue teams took more than three hours to extricate the trapped driver from the vehicle, and he arrived at the medical center in a very serious condition and died while being treated by doctors.
The injured include two Dominicans and a Haitian woman, according to the official. Polonia said that the injured were taken to different hospitals and that none were in a serious condition. Another 30 passengers were treated and released. The US tourists had been staying at the Hotel Jarabacoa.
The accident occurred at around 3pm at a hairpin bend in Bayacanes, on the road that links La Vega with Jarabacoa, when the brakes apparently failed on the bus with 54 passengers on board, according to a source.
The bus, according to witnesses, could not make the curve and went off the road into the shallow gully.
The injured were taken to the Luis Morillo King Hospital and the Juan Bosch Trauma Hospital as well as private clinics in the city of La Vega.
The injured were assisted by volunteers, members of Civil Defense, the Red Cross, the Fire Department and other rescue groups.
La Vega Civil Defense director Ismael Acosta reported that most of the people involved in the accident were from Santo Domingo.
Traffic accidents are common at the so-called "Curve of the Virgin," where many people have been killed or injured when their vehicles roll over. However, this accident occurred about 1 km further down the road at the very last sharp bend.
http://www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2012/1/30/219916/Un-muerto-y-15-heridos-al-precipitarse-autobus
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
The fatality was Julio Lugo, the bus driver, who died on the way to the hospital, according to a statement by the La Vega Civil Defense director, Jackeline Polonia.
Rescue teams took more than three hours to extricate the trapped driver from the vehicle, and he arrived at the medical center in a very serious condition and died while being treated by doctors.
The injured include two Dominicans and a Haitian woman, according to the official. Polonia said that the injured were taken to different hospitals and that none were in a serious condition. Another 30 passengers were treated and released. The US tourists had been staying at the Hotel Jarabacoa.
The accident occurred at around 3pm at a hairpin bend in Bayacanes, on the road that links La Vega with Jarabacoa, when the brakes apparently failed on the bus with 54 passengers on board, according to a source.
The bus, according to witnesses, could not make the curve and went off the road into the shallow gully.
The injured were taken to the Luis Morillo King Hospital and the Juan Bosch Trauma Hospital as well as private clinics in the city of La Vega.
The injured were assisted by volunteers, members of Civil Defense, the Red Cross, the Fire Department and other rescue groups.
La Vega Civil Defense director Ismael Acosta reported that most of the people involved in the accident were from Santo Domingo.
Traffic accidents are common at the so-called "Curve of the Virgin," where many people have been killed or injured when their vehicles roll over. However, this accident occurred about 1 km further down the road at the very last sharp bend.
http://www.listin.com.do/la-republica/2012/1/30/219916/Un-muerto-y-15-heridos-al-precipitarse-autobus
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)