One day after the tragic accident in western Panama, in which a bus carrying dozens of migrants fell off a cliff, forensic teams are asking for genetic information to identify the 40 dead.
"The state of the bodies and the lack of ante-mortem data make expert reports difficult," the specialists explained, noting that "it will take time" to know who the victims of the incident are, considered the worst in the history of Panama.
Meanwhile, authorities have indicated that 66 migrants, twenty of them minors, were on board the bus, which derailed early Wednesday morning in the Panamanian town of Gualaca, an area in the western province of Chiriquí, in its way north.
Among the passengers there would be nationals from countries in Africa and South America (such as Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia), they have specified.
Cuba also indicated that it would have compatriots among the victims.
The incident left dozens injured, including at least
10 children between the ages of 4 and 11
, three of whom are in critical condition at the Children's Hospital in the city of David, the institution's director told local press. , Johnny Parra.
It has also been reported that there are another 12 people aged 15 or over in serious condition in an ICU of a local hospital.
The bus was transferring migrants who had crossed the dangerous Darien region, on the border with Colombia, to a shelter on the border with Costa Rica to continue their route to North America.
For reasons that are being investigated, the bus driver, who also died,
lost control when making a maneuver
and plunged into a hollow.
Upon falling, the unit hit at least one object and a bus parked on the hillside.
The tragedy, considered the most serious on a highway since Panama began with this type of transfer years ago, triggered the debate around the safety conditions of these vehicles, in the midst of what the authorities have called a regional crisis-with about 250,000 migrants who entered Panama through this dangerous crossing in 2022. Precisely one day before the accident, a trilateral meeting was held on irregular immigration, security, and the border between Panama, the US, and Colombia.
At least 39 migrants die after bus accident in Panama
Feb 15, 202301:13
"It is a situation that nobody expects to happen, but we are exposed to being behind the wheel," Néstor Cubilla, communication secretary of the Darienita Transport Union, which provides 15 drivers, told the local press in defense of the drivers. vehicles daily for the route.
"The condition of these buses is the most optimal," he remarked in an interview with Telemetro Reporta.
The driver, he specified,
"had more than 30 years" of experience
and had made more than 14 trips to the Los Planes shelter, where he was going the day of the accident with the migrants.
The local authorities indicated that an investigation was initiated for the
crime against life and personal integrity
.
"Our personnel are in the area gathering evidence," Melissa Navarro, the senior prosecutor of the Public Ministry, said at a press conference.
The deputy director of the National Migration Authority, María Isabel Saravia, reported for her part that the drivers were Panamanian and that what happened was under investigation.
“This bus went past the entrance to a shelter, turned around and we know that it crashed on the way back,” she said.
What is known about the victims
The first report indicated that there were at least 39 deaths.
A source from the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor's Office) told EFE on Thursday that one of the injured died when he was being treated at a hospital, raising the number of fatalities in the accident to 40.
The Panamanian authorities have not publicly reported the age or nationality of the deceased and injured, who are presumed to be mostly migrants in transit to the United States.
Saravia limited himself to saying that
the list of travelers
on the bus included
African citizens and South American countries such as Brazil and Ecuador
, and that the Foreign Ministry was communicating with the different governments.
The
Cuban Foreign Ministry confirmed
, without specifying the number, that there were citizens of the island among the dead, the Government of Colombia expressed "its deepest condolences to the relatives of the victims, Colombians and from several sister countries," and that of Ecuador He said that at least seven people of Ecuadorian nationality are among the injured.
[This is the deadly stretch of the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama]
Nearly 250,000 migrants arrived in the country last year after crossing the Darien jungle on their way to the United States.
Families with children take the risky route of the Darién Gap, a 62-mile (100-kilometer) stretch of jungle with no roads and smugglers and thieves, for lack of options.
Once they arrive in Panama, they are received at immigration stations where the authorities take their biometric data and offer them health and food assistance, after which they are transferred by bus, with a ticket paid for by themselves, to Costa Rica.
The forensic team challenge
The bus was left
without a roof, destroyed,
with the seats scattered on the floor at the scene of the accident, a trunk road that leads to the Gualaca migrant shelter, the last point that irregular travelers touch in Panama before leaving for Costa Rica on the framework of the state operation that has been called “controlled flow”.
The impressive images of the bus destroyed after the accident where dozens of migrants died in Panama
Feb 15, 202300:31
The brutality of the accident left many of the victims unrecognizable, authorities have reported.
“The state of the bodies and the lack of ante-mortem data make expert studies difficult, especially with regard to identification, since information will be needed from the countries of origin of the migrants to obtain papilloscopic or dental records and samples of relatives for genetic comparison for identification purposes,” said the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences.
This identification process "will take time," said the forensic institute, which added in a statement to Agencia EFE that "in the meantime, the
corpses will be preserved with the due dignity
established by international standards."
The bodies of the victims are in the facilities of the Judicial Morgue in David, the capital of the province of Chiriquí, on the border with Costa Rica and located about 450 kilometers from the Panamanian capital.
A “controlled flow” under the magnifying glass
The damaged bus was one of those allowed daily by immigration authorities to transport migrants to the Los Planes shelter, on the northern route to Costa Rica.
Migrants pay their transfer fare on these buses, which are usually accompanied by two drivers and personnel from the National Immigration Service.
More than 37,000 have entered the country that way so far this year.
“It's a continuous flow,” Public Security Minister Juan M. Pino said at a press conference given after the accident.
The most frequent nationals, according to official data, are Haiti, with 14,086, Ecuador, with 9,536, and Venezuela, with 5,014.
Migration inspectors travel
on the buses to keep an eye on the news and there is usually “one official for a certain number of buses;
generally, between every four or five buses,” Saravia said at a conference on Wednesday.
But the deputy director of Migration clarified that no officials were traveling on the bus that fell off the cliff, stressing that it was an "unfortunate" accident.
[A Venezuelan recounts the nightmare of his trip through the Darien jungle: "I don't wish it on anyone"]
"It is a constant movement (...) with the operation 'controlled flow', Panama has transferred more than 500,000 people in the context of international mobility, has protected them and provided humanitarian assistance within its possibilities," he added.
Activists have denounced the overcrowding
of the immigration stations in which migrants are received in Darién, and a recent report by independent experts and UN special rapporteurs spoke of allegations of alleged abuse, including sexual abuse, against migrants by Panamanian officials. , which until now the authorities have denied.
Many of the towns in the region can only be accessed by air and sea, and due to its proximity to Colombia it is also considered a zone for drug and human trafficking.
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"This news is unfortunate for Panama and for the region," tweeted President Laurentino Cortizo, who sent condolences to the relatives of the deceased and expressed his "commitment to continue providing humanitarian aid and decent conditions to deal with irregular migration."
Néstor Cubilla, communication secretary of the Darienita Transportation Union, said that they gather 70 buses with permission for the route from Darién and that
15 are free every day
for Migration transfers.
13 years ago, he told Telemetro Reporta, migrants began to be transferred, initially some thirty, forty migrants per day, mostly Cubans, but then, given the large flow, seven years ago a more established route was organized with the authorities.
"We are a transportation provider,
we are not a private company
," he said.
Cubilla sent his condolences to the families of the victims, including the driver, who he assured had been behind the wheel for decades.
"He was a person who had experience," said the secretary and emphasized the good conditions of the units.
The dangerous journey of thousands of migrants to the US begins in this Colombian city.
Oct 17, 202201:58
This is the worst accident of this type registered in Panama
in more than 50 years
.
Migrant buses have had a few incidents before, according to an Associated Press count, but not this serious.
In the middle of last year, some buses with migrants were damaged when they were attacked by people who were blocking the international Pan-American highway during anti-government protests, with no injuries reported.
Until now, the reports of migrants who died in their transit through Panama had to do with mishaps that occurred during transit on foot or in boats through the jungle and rivers of the Darién.
With information from Agencia EFE and The Associated Press.