06/29/2021 15:15
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 06/29/2021 3:31 PM
"The bus
had been touching the shoulder, zigzagging
and heading back on track."
The story belongs to Alejandro (38), a survivor of the Plusmar bus that was heading from Miramar to Buenos Aires and overturned at kilometer 134 of Route 3, in Chascomús.
And it coincides with the testimony of other passengers interviewed by
Clarín
.
Like Fausto Da Silva, who said that before the accident,
the warning light indicating speeding had come on several times
.
Alejandro says that it was early morning and that most of the people were sleeping.
And that in moments everything was shouting and efforts to break the covers of the emergency exits on the roof of the vehicle in order to escape.
"I got on in Mar del Plata," he says. "I was going to Buenos Aires for work. I had been watching a series on my cell phone, an anime to pass the time. But since last night I told my wife that
I did not want to travel
, because there was a storm. I knew something was wrong, "says Alejandro, who is a member of the National Prefecture.
This is how the Plusmar bus remained, overturned on the shoulder.
Photo Mario Quinteros
Many of the passengers were from different security forces, such as the Gendarmerie, the Federal Police and the Prefecture.
The bus stopped in Maipú, where Alejandro saw that there was a change of driver.
And they continued the march.
It was then that he noticed how
he went several times towards the shoulder, zigzagged and returned to the road
.
"Minutes before the accident he started to pull to the right. And
suddenly I fly to the roof
and grab onto a seat. A screaming began to be heard, because most of them were sleeping. A dad and a baby were coming next to me. I stay with the father below me and the baby above my arm, "he remembers.
Alejandro helped other passengers out without realizing that he himself was injured- Photo Rafael Mario Quinteros
And he continues: "
Behind me was a deceased person
, with an arm stuck in the seat and the upright that divides each window of the glass crossed on his back."
Alejandro says he relied on his instincts and his training as a prefect.
"We
broke the windows that are on top of the roof
and people started to leave. We took out the first ones and, with a policeman, we came back to help. A man was glued to the grass, with all the weight of the mike on him. I know there was a girl that she died, but I didn't see her. "
Some passengers broke the glass of the emergency exits on the roof.
Photo: Rafael Mario Quinteros
Alexander himself was wounded.
"After the adrenaline rush, a police officer approached me and said 'sit down'.
That's when I realized that my head was bleeding.
At the moment I didn't feel anything."
Alejandro was treated at the Municipal Hospital of Chascomús, where the wound on his head was closed and he had chest and hip films. He was traveling with another prefect. "We are waiting for my partner to be discharged. He has pain in the rib on the left side."
40 injured were referred to the
same hospital
. Not the victims, because they died at the site of the overturn.
The passenger Fausto Da Luz, 34, agrees with Alejandro's story and adds a fact: a possible speeding.
"I went up to 1 in Mar del Plata. There was no Covid protocol, they did not take my temperature, they did not ask me for the Take Care app. The bus was moving everywhere and
the speeding light in the corridor was on all the time
. We were afraid, because the bus was moving a lot. "
The bus ended up overturned on the side of Route 2, at the height of Chascomús.
Photo Mario Quinteros
According to Da Luz, the situation worsened after the change of drivers.
"After a short time of travel he would exceed speed, the light would remain on, he would go from one side to the other. I couldn't sleep. I thought it was because of the wind. Until he
skidded, he went to the other side and overturned
and they broke all the glasses, "he says.
Fausto Da Luz was on the bus and saw that the speeding signal light came on several times.
Photo Rafael Mario Quinteros
Fausto says that he had his seatbelt on, but others did not or, although they did, it had locked and they could not get out.
"
A police officer was in serious condition and his partner could not get him out.
The firefighters cut the bus and took him out. There were children crying, a mother with her fainted son, who we thought had died. It was a very ugly moment," he recalls .
Fausto suffered
three ribs cracked
and his shoulder slipped out of place.
"I thought I was dying," he says, "I threw myself on the grass and could not breathe. I
had a lot of blood on my face, which was not mine.
But at that moment I thought I had broken my head," he adds.
Fausto cracked three ribs.
Photo Rafael Mario Quinteros
Alejandro says that he
was surprised by how full the bus was
, which carried 45 passengers and had 80% of its seats occupied, when by protocol it should not exceed 30%.
Regarding the accident, he thinks: "I think it
was a human error
. That the drivers were possibly poorly rested. I don't think the glass has fogged up. No braking was heard, only that the micro zigzagged and then fell."
Alejandro at the exit of the Hospital de Chascomús.
He is convinced that the overturning of the mike occurred due to human error.
Photo Rafael Mario Quinteros
The report of the Hospital de Chascomús
The director of the Chascomús hospital, Jorge Pablo Rodríguez (provincial registration 112548), confirmed that
40 people
were assisted there
, 5 of whom were boys.
Seven of the injured were hospitalized, but will be reevaluated in the next few hours to determine if they can be discharged.
Two people died and 40 others were injured, although most with minor injuries.
Photo Rafael Mario Quinteros
"Most had
minor injuries
, there were cases of head trauma, chest fractures and blunt wounds," he said. "There were five pediatric patients and one of them was under observation, because he had a hematoma in the abdominal area and an ultrasound had to be done. But he has already been discharged. "
Report and interviews: Rocío Magnani
NS
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Rollover and death on route 2: the drivers' breathalyzer tests gave 0 and they believe it was a "human error"
"It was something frightening, there are images that we will not forget any more", the dramatic testimonies of the passengers of the bus that overturned in Chascomús
