Two serious accidents on the highways to the west of Santiago were among the main news items in today’s newspapers. One accident involved a delivery truck carrying, according to El Caribe, about 60 Haitians coming from the area around Dajabon. The truck driver apparently lost control, for reasons that are still under investigation, and fell into the Cola River. Some reports say that two people were killed in the accident. Others mention 24 dead and seven injured. According to Hoy, Civil Defense volunteers and eyewitness reports, several were wounded. One version of the accident attributed the accident to gunfire from members of the National Army who were pursuing the vehicle. Another version said that movement of the Haitians inside the truck, who were clamoring to stop the vehicle led the driver to lose control. Neither the Army nor the Director General of Immigration were able to confirm either version regarding the shooting. Some of the victims showed signs of severe dehydration, and one, Rafaelito Etiem, told reporters that people were dying of thirst and that he thought that at least five had perished. Several of the persons taken to local health care facilities had cracked lips and other signs of dehydration. It was reported in Hoy that the Haitians had paid between RD$1,500 and RD$2,000 to travel from Dajabon to Santiago.
In another accident, involving a bus, a large truck and a semi tractor trailer left 18 injured on the Joaquin Balaguer Highway between Santiago and Navarrete, near Andy Ranch. The bus belonging to Caribe Tours, was heading to Dajabon when it apparently struck the truck, and then both were hit by the semi tractor trailer. Volunteers from the local Civil Defense office were forced to divert traffic into the oncoming lanes in order to clear the wreckage.
Among the injured were several members of the National Army who were returning to Dajabon from leave. A master sergeant and a lieutenant were among those seriously wounded, who were taken to the Regional “Cabral y Baez” University Hospital.