Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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Mood: Just dancing through life
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Planning a Bus trip......in Baja
April 17, 2007
Ciudad Juarez-Chihuahua News
The Perils of "Public" Transport: Part One
In Chihuahua, Camargo and Jimenez are in a state of mourning this week. More than 20 residents from the two
towns figure prominently on the list of victims of an early
morning bus-truck collision April 14 on the Pan American
Highway near Ciudad Juarez. The deadly crash, which killed
as many as 28 people and injured 21 others, happened after
the driver of an Omnibus de Mexico bus rear-ended a 15-ton
tractor trailer. Spilled diesel fuel from the truck rapidly
caught fire and spread to the bus, trapping passengers who
included young children.
"This is the worst accident that has occurred on the
highways of Chihuahua in recent years" said Navil Buchain
Galvan, inspector general of the Federal Preventive Police
(PFP) in Ciudad Juarez. According to Chihuahua State
Attorney General Patricia Rodriguez, many of the victims
were burned beyond recognition.
"With respect to the remains, there are 25 burned victims
and seemingly 28 people who lost their lives," Gonzalez
said. "Since there is a mixture of remains, it could take
weeks and in some cases months to establish the exact
number of victims."
After initially stating that 28 victims died in the
accident, Gonzalez's office later dropped the number to 25
probable victims. At least ten of the victims were children
who ranged from 22 months to 13 years of age. Jose Luis
Otero Diaz, a Ciudad Juarez city council alternate and
advisor to the municipal police force, was among the known
dead.
Two young men from Camargo who were traveling north on the
bus to Ciudad Juarez to work in the maquiladora industry,
Armando Galaviz and Fermin Gausin Mendoza, were credited
with rescuing an older woman from the burning vehicle and
breaking windows that allowed other passengers to escape
the death trap.
An official PFP report blamed the crash on driver Everardo
Reverde Soria, who was presumably killed in the wreck. A
second driver, Jose Refugio Flores Rodriguez, was also
likely killed. The police report cited distraction,
speeding and tail-gating as causes of the fatal mishap.
The April 14 tragedy raised new questions about the safety
of inter-city mass transportation in the border region and
in Mexico. Sandra Montijo Dubrule, the president of the
Ciudad Juarez-based Maquiladora Civil Association, an
industry trade group, called for better monitoring of bus
companies and their drivers. A similar opinion was voiced
by Father Ignacio Villanueva, the priest of Ciudad Juarez's
downtown cathedral.
Since the bus had a 38-passenger capacity, controversy
immediately surfaced about its 51 reported passengers.
Early reports suggested that extra passengers were standing
in the aisles when the bus crashed into the commercial
truck, whose driver apparently fled the scene. But Saul
Varela Rodriguez, press spokesman for the Ominbus company
in Ciudad Juarez, denied that overcrowding was an issue.
"We have spoken with a number of the survivors and at no
moment have they told us that there were passengers
standing up all the way from Camargo," Varela said, adding
that the company knew of 21 dead victims and not the 28
victims mentioned in press and government accounts.
Children under four years of age are not charged bus
tickets and not registered on the passenger list, Varela
said. In Mexico, it's common for adults to travel on buses
with small children on their laps.
When inter-city bus service was upgraded in Mexico years
ago, first-class buses were expected to sell only the
amount of tickets that correspond to the number seats on
individual buses. Still, many drivers collect extra money
by making unscheduled stops along highways to pick up
passengers. It's not known if the drivers of the doomed
Omnibus vehicle were fishing for extra fares.
Varela said that Omnibus will pay for victims' funerals,
hospital costs and lost luggage. The company holds a
$75,000-dollar medical insurance policy for each passenger,
he affirmed. Pending an investigation, sanctions against
Omnibus, as well as the owner of the truck from which the
driver supposedly fled, could be forthcoming, according to
the PFP.
In the aftermath of the April 14 disaster, Chihuahua
Governor Jose Reyes Baeza dispatched members of his cabinet
to Ciudad Juarez in order to coordinate emergency support
services for victims and their families.
The Omnibus crash ranked among the deadliest Mexican bus
accidents that have claimed numerous lives in recent years.
On April 15, another eight people were killed and 30
injured when a Futura bus that was traveling from Puerto
Vallarta to Guadalajara left the road. Almost one year to
the day of the most recent accident near Ciudad Juarez,
another bus wreck on the same stretch of the Pan American
Highway killed 9 people and injured 21 others.
As Frontera Nortesur was going to press, at least four
people were reported killed and 36 others injured after an
ADO company bus crashed into a canyon in Veracruz state.
Strangely enough, the accident happened on the one year
anniversary of a similar tragedy in Veracruz that killed 57
persons who were aboard an overcrowded bus. In late 2004, a
so-called "pirate" bus, or one that did not have official
authorization, crashed on the highway outside Ciudad
Juarez, causing the deaths of 12 passengers.
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just dancing through life
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I guess I should remove this post BEFORE it crashes
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Well, where is part 2? The above isn't in Baja... Crashes??? I'm really confused this afternoon!
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CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Peacefull
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Bus/Truck Crash
How tragic ....... I've seen close ones ..... and each time I shudder. So, so very sad. CaboRon
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