Eight people are dead and eight more are injured after a bus and a tanker truck hit each other head-on in western Honduras on Sunday.
The crash came around 5 p.m. on April 5, on the CA-4 highway in La Ceibita, a community in Quimistán municipality, Santa Bárbara department. The spot is about 170 kilometers northwest of Tegucigalpa.
The bus was carrying passengers home from an excursion to Antigua, Guatemala, officials said. It provided tourist service. Darwin Hernández, who heads the Traffic Accident Investigation Section, said all eight dead were Hondurans. Commissioner Lenin Andino, Honduras’ director of roads and transportation, told reporters that both drivers were among them, along with six bus passengers. Officials named the drivers as Javier Deras, who was at the wheel of the bus, and Ever Fajardo, who drove the truck. Both died at the scene.
A cyanide load
The tanker was hauling cyanide, Andino and Hernández said. That changed the response at once. Authorities secured the area, moved away the people who had gathered at the wreck and stopped traffic in both directions.
Rescue crews worked through Sunday night. They had to remove the overturned tanker and free passengers who were still trapped inside the bus. Teams from the national port authority were called in to handle the cyanide container, and officials began coordinating with the Pan American Health Organization to manage any chemical risk. Traffic was sent onto secondary roads around La Ceibita while the wreckage was cleared.
Investigators from the Traffic Accident Investigation Section stayed at the site that night, collecting evidence.
A busy stretch
Traffic on this part of the CA-4 has been heavy over the Easter holiday period. Officials described the crash as the latest in a run of serious accidents on the corridor during high-travel periods.
Authorities plan to release a preliminary investigation report on Monday morning in Quimistán.
Sources
Sources
- Honduras : The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate
- Eight Killed in Honduras Bus and Tanker Truck Crash
