A mass transit accident left a balance of 27 injured, five of them seriouslywhen a truck adapted for the transportation of passengers overturned on Tuesday morning in the place known as Siboney in the province of Holguín, between the towns of Cacocum and Yaguabo, on the Central Highway.
According to the official newspaper Granmathe victims were transferred to the Lucía Iñiguez Landín Clinical Surgical Hospital, in the city of Holguín, to receive the required care.
A pregnant woman, with more than 25 weeks of gestation, was immediately referred from the aforementioned center to the Perinatology Room of the Vladimir Ilich Lenin University Hospital, also in the provincial capital.
Joel Queipo Ruiz, first secretary of the Communist Party in Holguín, and Manuel Aguilera, deputy to the National Assembly and governor of Holguín, went to the medical center that received the injured and inquired about their condition and medical care. Queipo shared in his https://twitter.com/QueipoRuiz/status/1787857987526152448 images of the accident.
On Tuesday Another traffic accident on the highway from Jobabo to Colombia (between the settlements of Berrocal and Leningrad) in Las Tunas left another six injuredthree of them with serious injuries and two who required transfer to the provincial hospital, reported the digital edition of Radio Cabaniguán
The alleged cause of the accident was a sudden turn that the private vehicle in which the six people were traveling made to avoid a pothole that caused the vehicle to move about five meters off the road and, due to the unevenness of the ditch, it finally overturned.
Public transportation in Cuba is in a critical situation, which is much worse in the interior and rural areas of the Island.. In these places, the adaptation of vehicles that are not designed for the transportation of passengers poses an additional risk when accidents occur. The terrain also adds more severity to the incidents.
According to official statistics, 8,556 transits occurred in Cuba in 2023. However, the most alarming fact is that, although they decreased, they caused more deaths (729) than in 2022.
At the end of 2023 they were 18,216 vehicles with expired technical inspectionwhich increased by 81% between October and December, while 3,900 vehicles still remain in these conditions since 2022.
The authorities have recognized that “the economic situation of the Island and the deficit of parts and pieces continue negatively impacting the technical condition of the vehicles“. This situation in the means of transport caused 10% of the total deaths in 2023, according to the official version.
Regarding the state of the roads, the specialists recognized that these “They present a high level of deterioration,” but the Government is incapable of assuming the maintenance and repair of Cuban streets and highways, while continuing to invest in works for tourism.
