Preliminary Causes of Guantánamo Traffic Accident Clarified

The loss of control of the vehicle by the driver is the preliminary cause of the traffic accident occurred Thursday in the eastern province of Guantánamo, confirmed today at a press conference authorities of the Ministry of Transport (MITRANS).

Luis Ladrón de Guevara, director of Passenger Transportation of Mitrans, said that at 4:10 p.m. yesterday (local time) at the location known as Loma de Herradura, the driver of a Yutong bus, from Viazul Company, lost the control of the vehicle, while driving on a wet pavement.

Meanwhile, the delegation of the Ministry of Interior (Minint) in that territory specified that the incident took place due to the violation of Article 128, paragraph 5, of Law 109 of the Highway and Transit Code.

The section refers that whoever guides a vehicle or animal on the road must have full control of its movements and is obliged to moderate the march and stop if necessary, whenever the circulation, state of the road or visibility requires it, adds the information provided by the Minint.

In the bus, that covered Santiago de Cuba-Guantánamo route, there travelled one American, two Dutch, two Canadians, two Mexicans, two British, three Spaniards, four French, four Germans and five Argentines; the rest of the passengers were of Cuban origin.

So far, 33 people have been reported injured, out of whom 21 are international tourists, and seven have died, including three of national origin and four foreigners (one German, one French and two Argentines).

Alberto Ramos Miranda, general director of the National Bus Company, pointed out that both the driver and the conductor of the damaged means of transportation had more than 10 years of experience to their credit, and that since 2006 there had not been a bus accident in Cuba in which foreign people lost their lives.

According to information from this capital, the investigation into the incident is being carried out by the territorial authorities and the Ministries of the Interior, Transport and Public Health.

(Taken from ACN in Spanish)

Written by Radio Grito de Baire